Fairer Tales
by Dizzi Penn
Summary: Long ago it was told that one would come to tame the beast, and though the Queen would try to stop it, you can't stop a tale once it's begun.  JarethXOC.  M rating for now because I'm not sure where this story is going.
1. Once upon sometime

So here it is my first story here. Fingers crossed that it will go well! I promise to do my best at updating it regularly so please comment/review! Trust me the more you show interest the more it will make me want to write. Criticism is welcome, flaming is not.

Enjoy!

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><p>Fairer Tales 1: Once upon sometime...<p>

" '_Twas a long time ago, longer now than it seems in a place perhaps you've seen in your dreams; for the story you are about to be told began with the holiday worlds of old. Now, you've probably wondered where holidays come from. If you haven't I'd say it's about time you begun; for the holidays are the result of much fuss and hard work from the worlds that create them for us. Well you see now, quite simply that's all that they do, making one unique holiday especially for you. But once, a calamity ever so great occurred when two holidays met by mistake."_

_-Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas_

" '_But what no one knew, was that he was secretly in love with the girl…' _… Right." Small eyes, secret eyes, watched from a distance. Not too close, less they be discovered.

"_She reads it, right?"_

"_Yes! She reads it! You not have eyes, she has in hands!"_

"_Then why she not say them? Why she not say the words?"_

"_Maybe she no know how to read?"_

"_Hush! Stupid! Course she know how to read!"_

"_Then why nothing happen? Why she not say them? We give her book like told, why nothing happen?"_

"_Maybe wrong girl?"_

"_No, not wrong girl. We's remembers what we's was told, that's girl. Right girl!"_

A voice floated from the nearby house, calling dinner to those who would hear. The secret eyes watched as the girl stood, and after a brief pause slipped a small red leather bound book into her bag, before jogging off towards the back door of the house, slipping inside; out of sight from those secret little eyes, for now.

"_Well, what we does now?"_

"_We waits. We waits for when she calls."_

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><p>"ALICE!" Sixth row from the door, 4 chairs back, near the large window pane with a wondrous view of the soccer field and the woods just beyond, a girl started, waking from her half asleep stupor.<p>

"It's so kind of you to finally join us Miss Nelson. Now if you wouldn't mind, could you manage to remain awake for the rest of the class period?"

_Doubt it. _"Yes sir." Came the response from the gray eyed girl sixth row, 4 seats back. Mr. Dunaway turned back to the board, turning his back on the snickers and giggles at Alice's expense. Turning her gaze to the window Alice let her mind slip away, why bother with listening to the man anyway, it wasn't like he was saying anything new. Math was math. Same old rules, directions, points, problems, solutions; nothing new to spark her interest, kind of like the rest of the school. Bored didn't even begin to describe the way Alice felt. Catatonic? Trapped? Stuck? Something roiling below the surface had her convinced that there was something else out there, that her imagination wouldn't lie to her like that, promising her something different when in all truth all there really was, was reality and that just wouldn't do.

"MISS NELSON!" she didn't even jump this time. She'd been expecting the call again. Just like the theories and problems he taught, Mr. Dunaway was extremely predictable. Whether she had gone back to sleep or not he was bound to call on her again, his ego demanded it, after all the genius child needed to be taught that she wasn't so much better than everyone else, right?

"Yes sir?" Alice responded halfheartedly.

"Come to the front please." Predictable. Standing, the eyes of her classmates on her, Alice made her way to the front of the classroom and up to the board. Where upon, as predicted, Mr. Dunaway had written some math problem that he was convinced would probably stump her, after all genius or not she was simply a high school student, she would never get this, right?

"Since our normal curriculum seems to be uninteresting to you, why don't you give this a try?" The alphabet soup on the board sent a new wave a giggles and snickers through the classroom behind Alice. Predictable. He'd start his speech soon, about true intelligence or something or other, she never paid much attention to those either.

Before he'd managed to even get his speech underway Alice had her answer. "It's unsolvable."

"Oh really?" She didn't have to turn around to see his face slowly contorting into a smug look. "You see as I was saying-"

"It's unsolvable. You're missing part of your problem. Here" She pointed simply to the board where sure enough, in retrospect, Mr. Dunaway realized he had left out part of the problem. Whether on purpose or by mistake he would never say, because what sort of teacher would do that, but luckily for him the bell came to his rescue releasing the students from the cramped confines of his tiny universe.

Alice stood off to the side as the other students flooded down the stairs and out of the building, arm in arm, some hand in hand; clusters of friends heading to cars so they could leave together, or clumps of them walking down the street to go get snacks at the local diners. They all passed her without so much of second glance. It wasn't that Alice didn't have any friends, no, some were out sick today, there was a bug going around. A few were out of town, but that didn't bother her so much. Everyone else at school thought she was weird anyway, so they kept their distance, simply for a lack of interest, besides it only makes perfect sense to avoid oddities right?

Her thoughts had taken her to the small neighborhood park not far from home; slumping into one of the many free swings Alice leaned back staring up at the sky, letting her imagination take her away.

Small eyes where near, once again, and they were tired. They'd been following the girl around all day and nothing had happened. Well nothing that was supposed to happen anyway. They had seen school, they had seen lunch, they had seen teasing meanies and snickering grouchies, making faces and making fun of the girl, their girl. But all in all nothing had happened, and they were getting impatient. They were sent for the girl, make the girl come back, that's why they were there, to bring girl back with them, that's why they gave girl book. But girl had read book, many times, they'd seen it happen, the day before, during class, even when she'd snuck off for lunch, she'd read the whole thing cover to cover. What they couldn't understand now, those small sneaky little eyes watching every movement why she hadn't said the words yet. What was she waiting for?

"_I wish…"_

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><p>"I wish… I could remember those words…" Alice sat up, glancing around. She could have sworn she heard something like a dog growling… somewhere. She shrugged it off, her imagination again. Leaning back in the swing again she sighed.<p>

"…_Cats and rabbits would reside in fancy little houses… they'd be dressed, in shoes and hats and trousers, in a world of my own. There'd be blue birds_… … gah what comes next?" in her desperate search of her mind to find her answer she leaned so far back in the swing that her head touched the ground. "What?"  
>Sitting up quickly resulted in dumping her in on the ground. She could have sworn she'd seen something, something small, something off… in her scramble to her feet she missed whatever it was, it was so close thought, but somehow it had managed to scurry back into the edge of the brush before she could get a good enough look at it.<p>

"Hey Alice!" Back to the predictable, mundane. Turning around Alice found Abigail Connelly, one of the queen bee's of the school. With her were her usual stooges, Cassidy and Emilia, and a small flock of people who could simply be described as gawkers.

"Hey Alice, we have a question for you." _Hmm, do tell. _She thought trying to make her way back around the swing to grab her things to leave. "Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"Is it true, you know, about your parents."

"What about them?" Alice picked up her things trying to ignore the others watching her every move so intently, _like vultures._

"You know, that you killed them." Low snickers followed the question as Alice turned her back and proceeded to walked away.

"Hey we're talking to you!" Emilia barked somewhere over Alice's shoulder, she started to pick up her pace.

"Don't be so rude!" Cassidy joined in.

"Yeah," Abigail stepped in front of Alice forcing her to stop and face her. "Didn't your parents teach you any manners before you offed them?"

"Please move." One thing slightly more predictable then the teasing, was Alice's temper. It was something she struggled with, had always struggled with, and something she was usually good at keeping under control but somehow Abigail always happened to know exactly how to push her buttons.

"See look, there are some manners. Now answer my question."

"Please move, I have somewhere to be."

"Come on, we all want to know." By now the others had formed a circle around her; Abigail stood with her arms crossed over her chest, a smug grin playing out on her face.

"Inquiring minds want to know Alice. How'd you do it?"

"Did you poison them?" Cassidy piped in.

"Or did you stab them in their sleep?" Emilia giggled as she joined in.

"Did you do the same thing to them as you did as you did to your friends? Seems like there are a lot of absences recently, killing your parents not enough, so now you go after your "friends" too?"

"You know they're out sick Abigail." Alice bit out from between jaws that were clenching ever tighter.

"So you say. You know I hear that a lot of serial killers were considered 'gifted' or 'geniuses', like you. And people around you just keep disappearing."

Alice threw her shoulder into the blonde in front of her, breaking the circle; walking off while mumbling under her breath, "I wish you'd all go away."

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><p>Well it wasn't exactly what they were looking for, but they were tired of the meanies picking on their girl. Tiny secret eyes watched as Girl Named Alice walked away from the meanies, watched as the meanies laughed and called after her. They waited until their girl was out of sight before they made their move.<p> 


	2. Far Far Away

_Alrighty folks so it looks like I've managed to get a second chapter part thingy up and running. Thanks to those who have been reading and have added me to their author alerts! I really encourages me to write more and write as well as I can! Please review!_

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><p>Fairer Tales: Far Far Away...<p>

In a world many had forgotten, a queen sat upon her throne, proud, sure, but most importantly beautiful. There was no denying that Queen Megara was beautiful, for you see many Fae were; but even by their own high standards she was exceptionally beautiful. Her fair pale skin put the purest alabaster to shame; her hair, threads of pure gold spun thin and silky like spider's webbing, was dressed in elegant curls around her head; eyes the sharpest piercing ice blue that could chill even the strongest flame. When, in years past, she would grace the world above with her presence, some of the human civilizations hailed her as a goddess; simple and fragile though they may be, she couldn't help but forgive mortals their pathetic lives just enough to bask in their praises and exaltation.

Yes there was no denying it, she was beautiful. And as one would image of a person with such beauty, she was also quite vain. Her love of her face had led to her collecting mirrors; from the extravagant and enchanted to the mundane decorative looking glass, if she could see her reflection in it she found a way to have it in her possession. The most important mirrors, of course, were safely kept within her chambers. One in particular, the staff new nothing about; she kept this on mirror in a small private room, whose entrance was hidden. The hidden mirror was hung from its black ornate frame on the wall; an elegant chair sat in front of the mirror, so when the queen came to look upon the mirror she could be seated comfortably. The looking glass and the chair were not the only items in the room however, the walls of the room were covered in a veritable menagerie of tiny looking glasses, though these were not for her to admire herself in. On her way to the top Megara had encountered many individuals, individuals who had to be dealt with. While others thought them dead, she knew better. Their bodies may have been found, but what a person could consider their souls were trapped behind the glossy pane, forever trapped, to be called upon to be gloated at whenever the queen deemed necessary. But the large mirror with its long black frame, statuesque and elegant, was in a way, the key to some of her successes. Knowing this, she kept it hidden away, so that others might not find use for it as she had.

This day's visit was no different from those before it. Once her servants had left her she had slipped away into the secret room, seating herself in the chair before her grand mirror. Smiling at the reflection that greeted her, she finished appraising her reflection and called to the mirror. The ghost like image of a young woman appeared in the mirror looking sleepy and confused, as if just roused from a deep slumber. But unlike the many visits before when the mirror blinked, and looked toward the queen, there was something different about her face, instead of it becoming its usual mask of indifference, there was something else there, something hidden.

"Your Majesty."

"Mirror, dear, tell me what I'd like to know."

"And what shall that be today Majesty?"

"Today? About me I suppose, my last conquest was rather 'fruitful' if I do say so myself. I wonder how my latest move has affected the game so to speak."

"About you, your majesty, I know quite well. You're fair your majesty, your beauty none can near compare and your rule will be long… enough."

"'Enough'? What do you mean, 'enough'?" The queen turned her piercing blue eyes on the lass in the mirror.

"You've forgotten?" the mirror asked, a smirk slowly pulling at the corner of its mouth.

"You seem to be forgetting your place, you cheeky thing." Megara warned, her glare becoming glacier. But this only seemed to spur the mirror on, some fire had gotten into the mirror girl and she wasn't hiding it any longer.

"You've forgotten! The vain witch has forgotten!" she laughed.

"Watch your tongue! How dare you speak to me that way!" The girl in the mirror knew that later a punishment would come, but at the moment she cared not.

"Your reign will be long enough, your majesty." She spat. "But the time spoke of draws near! The one who shall tame the beast brought forth from your blood is soon to be upon us. And you and your dark hearted kin will fall! Your kingdom will be swallowed up, devoured by a new. You shall be tossed aside as an old rag, a forgotten toy, and the crown shall sit upon a new head. Your time draws near Queen Megara of Lunarwood! You will fall!"

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><p>Deep within the Underground, there lay a great kingdom. At the axis of this kingdom, stood the great Goblin castle. Far removed from the other magical kingdoms the goblin city wrapped itself completely around the Goblin castle, constantly wishing to be in the wondrous buildings shadow. In most kingdoms citizens are protected by a moat or a wall, separating and protecting them from their enemies. This kingdom was the same in that effect that it had protection, but different from all those in the Underground for that it was surrounded by the great Labyrinth. If one were to find themselves stepping out of a dense wood on to a windswept hill, they would see before them what would appear as a sea of ever moving, constantly shifting walls. Like sand colored waves surrounding the city, the movements of the Labyrinth were a sight to see from the safe distance of the windswept hills, it was enough to entice a less than knowledgeable person into its depths. This is how the Goblin King found himself passing his time this particular day; plucked from the air, held in front of his piercing gaze, was one of his many crystals, being turned this way and that aiding in his observation of the most recent poor fool who decided that they would simply wander into the Labyrinth.<p>

He found himself doing this more often these days. The mortals of the Aboveground had not wished away any children recently, so there were no magical trips to the Above, to deal with some sniveling mortal, weeping and begging for another chance, to be given the challenge of the Labyrinth, which they would ultimately fail. No this simple fool was a person who was born of the Underground and knew the stories of his labyrinth; for some reason they had thought that they were well enough prepared to enter it, his labyrinth was quickly proving otherwise. He hadn't decided yet if he were going to save this poor fool yet, somehow they had found their way in and so far they were simply wondering around the very edges of his dear puzzle, no real danger there.

"Wiling your time away on one of your crystals again cousin?" Into the throne room entered cousin of the Goblin King, the young lord of Rose Briar, Derrick.

"If you must know," the young king replied, not moving from his lounging position on his throne, "Yes."

"Ah, and when will the Great Goblin King sweep in to confront the simpleton for daring to walk the paths of his precious Labyrinth?"

"I don't think I'll even bother. The fool hasn't made it that far for one, secondly he's nowhere near any of the parts of the Labyrinth were there would be some concern. In all honesty the idiot will probably fall into some trap that will dump him back at the beginning, like all the others." With that last statement, his mood seemed to tint a shade darker than it had been. He threw the crystal across the throne room, causing it to skitter for a brief moment before exploding against the far wall with a loud crash. The few small goblins who had been rabble rousing around stopped what they were doing and looked toward their king. With a dark look coming across his deep blue eyes, he fixed them all with a stare before growling a simple but crisp command. "Out."

In a flurry dirt and chicken feathers all of the tiny chattering creatures fled for their very lives from the room, lest a royal boot find its way to their backside.

"Was that necessary Jareth?"

"I thought so, that should be enough shouldn't it." With the agility of a cat the young king swung his legs off his throne and brought himself to a standing position. It wasn't a question and Derrick knew it. He watched as Jareth strode to the nearest window, lost in thought and growing agitation.

"Come cousin," Derrick began, joining Jareth by the window. "Let's go have us some fun, hmm? You've done with the business of the day and all this sitting around is putting you in a sour mood. Come let's be off."

"And what would you suggest this time?"

"I was considering the suggestion of perusing your wine cellar, I hear there are some exceptional years down there."

"Naturally, I'm starting to think that's the only reason you come to visit."

"Nonsense! I love your company cousin! If that's not to your liking, we could go about and find ourselves some wonderful ladies to keep us company as we wile away our evening."

"No to the cellar, I have a feeling, you'll work us down there eventually."

"Then it's settled!" Derrick clapped his cousin on the shoulder, steering him away from the window and, hopefully, away from what might become another horrible mood. Jareth had been prone to them lately, Derrick wasn't sure why, but whatever the cause it was wreaking havoc on those in the castle, and the last thing that needed to happen was for it to leak out into the rest of the kingdom. Jareth was a young king, possibly the youngest the goblin kingdom had ever seen, it had taken him a long time to gain the trust and respect of his citizens, and he took his job seriously. Many of the issues that he had encountered along the way Derrick had been there, watching, suggesting, and calmly sitting on the sidelines as a constant support for his younger cousin. But lately a bug had seemed to get into him and he had become restless and annoyed.

At first Derrick had attributed it to the calls from the Above, it was not Jareth's favorite duty, this he knew, but much like other things past and present in his life, Jareth refused to mention it. All his cousin knew was from what he guessed himself or gathered from the staff. And even they didn't have a clue what was bothering their king.

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><p>Jareth glanced over at his cousin, who was jabbering away, it was possibly an amusing enough of a story, but at the moment he was less that interested in hearing it. Instead of his cousin's plan of getting him drunk and distracted working, he stood now by the window in one of the castle's various studies, deep eyes panning over his kingdom. He understood his cousin's concern, he truly did, he knew that he was distracted and that others around the castle had begun to notice, but something in him had awoken the other day. With the rising sun of that one morning, something had been loosed into being; he woke with a feeling of impending action. Something was coming, he wasn't sure what yet, but it had him restless, and he hated the feeling. It made his skin prick and distracted him to no end; the labyrinth even seemed to feel that something was about, its movements were more lively than usual, even some of the smaller goblins about the castle had been unusually calm, as if unsure what was about the place.<p>

Something was coming, the whole kingdom seemed to be holding its collective breath waiting to see just what would come.

And Jareth stood, restless and watching, the wait for the unknown killing him.

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><p><em>And that's the end of chapterpart two something or other! lol! Please review!_

_Thanks a bunch for reading!_


	3. Gaurdian

_Hey guys! Look look! A third Chapter! I wrote another one! YAY!_

_I hope you're all enjoying the story thus far! Thank you for reading! Please please please review! I'd love to hear what you guys think!_

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><p><em><em>Fairer Tales: Guardian

"Yes, I understand Mrs. Connelly, trust me I do. But what you need to understand is that Alice is sitting right here in front of me, and has been for the last two hours. If someone did do something to Abigail it wasn't Alice. Goodbye Mrs. Connelly." Gigi Toomey hung up on the nagging woman on the other line and turned to glance in the living room at the figure of her goddaughter, slumped on the couch flipping through the channels. Alice had shown up home from school in huff, and she only had to guess that it was because of Abigail Connelly from around the corner. The subsequent call that came later confirmed the girls after school encounter, though Gigi was sure that there was some embellishing done on the part of Miss Connelly.

"Come on Alice, get the boys for dinner and get washed up. You've watched enough tv for now." Without a sound the girl flipped off the television and silently walked past her and up the stairs. Gigi sighed and rubbed her eyes. Slouching back into the chair of her home office she stared up at the ceiling, as if God himself had etched an answer to her unspoken question on its surface. Her eyes came to rest on a set of simple black picture frames; the first held the image of her family, her husband, herself, and her two boys. It was an old photo, when Tucker and George were both small, Georgie being in pull ups at the time. The frame beside it held a small Alice, grey eyes bright with cheer and a hint of mischief, much like her mother, who was standing behind her, hands on her shoulders, warm smile on her face, head leaning on the shoulder of her husband, the love of her life. The picture was taken when Alice was six, almost a year exactly, before the car accident that would claim her parents. Gigi remembered that fateful night she received the call, and how the officer had told her that Alice was missing. They were certain she hadn't been thrown from the car, but they couldn't find her anywhere. Six hours later they'd found her curled up at the base of a large tree, alive but unconscious. Later they'd discover that the accident had left its mark on her more than simply taking her parents away; a medical condition would be a constant glaring reminder of that night long after the emotional wounds had begun to heal.

"Tell me, dear, what would you have me do? She misses you so much; these years are harder than I thought they'd be, what would you have done, hmm? If you were here, what would you do?" Gigi sighed as the picture merely continued to smile at her a mere phantom of what used to be. Rubbing her eyes she turned off her computer and started to get herself ready for dinner.

After the car accident Gigi had become Alice's legal guardian, considering her closest relatives were on the other side of the country some of the time and who knows where around the globe the rest; her parents had expressed that they wanted their daughter to have a relatively stable life, and Gigi had practical been there from birth on anyway. The tired woman pushed her red curls out of her face, and back into a sloppy pony tail, as she made her way into the kitchen to set up for dinner. As she pulled down the glasses and plates Gigi's mind couldn't help but wander back to that night. The one thing that had always been glaring in her mind is how Alice had gotten out of the car.

The car had gone off of the snowy road and crashed just off the shoulder. When Gigi had met up with the police at the site they had stated they were more worried about finding her before the wolves did. There had been faint prints around the car, but they'd headed back off into the woods, instead of staying by the car; the more likely option with the two deceased in the front seat, one young officer had stated just before Gigi had given him a glare to take 10 years off his life. After much searching they'd finally found Alice curled up at the base of a massive tree. As Gigi had gone to pick her up a commotion behind her caused her to spin around, clutching the small girl even closer to her. Two feet in front of her were the two officers she had searched with, two feet in front of them, stood watching, a single wolf. Its eyes locked with Gigi, holding her gaze for what had felt like a lifetime, before turning a disappearing into the shadows, no doubt to join the others not far too far off. Gigi had muttered a soft "thank you" as the creature walked away, fading into the night.

"MOM!" the voice of her youngest, Georgie, snapped her back to the here and now, reminding her of her own wolves who'd soon be circling the dinner table.

"Yes baby, what is it?"

"Are we having peas? Alice doesn't like peas, so I thought I'd check." Gigi held back a laugh, no need to let on she knew that her 11 year old was really looking out for his taste buds.

"No, no peas hon. Pork chops, corn on the cob, and homemade macaroni and cheese. Go set the table?"

"Okie dokie!" Gigi smiled as the little red head bounded out of the kitchen. "Hey Alice! No peas tonight!"

"Awesome kiddo!" Alice put on a smile she didn't really feel. Georgie had become her shadow when she had come to live with Toomey's; as per usual, he insisted on sitting next to her at the dinner table again that night. Georgie chatted on about his day to Alice while the others carried on their own conversations; she smiled and nodded and occasionally nudged him when needed, but Alice really wasn't feeling being happy and peppy today, not after what had happened this afternoon.

After dinner and clearing the table, Alice slipped upstairs to her room. Barricaded up in her blankets, warm in her pajamas and under her covers, Alice pulled out of her nightstand an old copy of The Hobbit that her father had given her for birthday when she was six. It was the copy he'd had for years and always read from when she was younger just before bed time. The beautiful pictures had always been her favorite when she younger, the illustrations were absolutely wonderful in the level of detail; some of her fondest memories were tied up in this book, one specifically being her parents trading off in the reading one night, changing their voices for the different characters, her in the middle wide eyed and curious to hear what happened next. Slipping her finger between the back of the dust jacket and the cover of the book she wiggled out a small envelope with a few pictures of her parents.

One had her sitting on her mom's lap, laughing, holding tight to her giggling little girl; her dad had somehow managed to duck into the frame at the last minute, he probably had set a timer on the camera, and was laughing at whatever ridiculous shenanigans he'd had to do to get into the picture before it was too late. This was one of Alice's favorite pictures. It wasn't forced or stiff like professionally done pictures, it was one of those few candid family moments that a person is able to catch on film. She could see how much she favored her mom in her looks in this photo too. Her mother was half Korean, half African American, her father African American. She'd ended up with a perfect blend of her parent's slightly darker than caramel coloring, she had her mom's almond eye shape and thick long hair, but she had her dad's light grey eyes.

A few other pictures were in the envelope, one in particular Alice kept going back to was a family that for the life of her she couldn't remember. The adults in the photo were both fair in complexion and hair, they were both smiling happily. The young boy in the photo favored the others. Upon seeing the photo a friend had once before suggested that they could possibly be relatives, aunt, uncle and nephew or something of the like; but she had always assumed that it was a family photo, and other than that brief moment had never really questioned it. She couldn't get over the feeling that she knew these people, but after wracking her brain for possible names to go with the faces she simply put the photos back into the envelope, slipped it back into the dust jacket and placed the book back on the nightstand. Turning off her light she snuggled back under the covers, watching the ceiling fan spin, let her mind wander.

The car accident all those years ago had taken more than her parents, it had also stolen some of her memory. That's where she gathered she had known the mystery people in the photo from. The doctors had said that the amnesia would eventually clear up, that even though it was unusual that she had lost all of that 8th year, it was possible that it would come back to her later in life. They had claimed it was because of the trauma of the accident, shock they said. Absentmindedly her fingers began to trace her collar bone, in doing so crossed the tip of a familiar scar. Though they weren't sure exactly how, the accident had damaged her heart, the faint scar from the surgery crossed over the left side of her chest.

Laying back, staring at the ceiling, Alice let out a simple sigh, resigning to let her mind stop working for the night and give in to the sweet call of sleep.

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><p>Gigi peeked into Alice's room finding her just nodded off to sleep. Stepping into her room Gigi picked up a jacket, placing it on a chair, moved her backpack to the foot of the bed and moved to the side of her bed to window. She quickly checked it over making sure it was locked and secure, glancing out at the edge of the woods not far behind her home, she found a familiar sight. As the moon snuck out from behind a cloud, the light flooded the backyard and the tree line revealing, a single wolf watching the window, a silent guard. Gigi nodded, quietly saluting what had become, in a strange way, and old friend. Stepping back from the window she looked at two decorative iron tailors sheers, hanging on both sides of the window, both welded open. Touching them gently, she turned to Alice, placing a simple kiss on the forehead of her sleeping goddaughter, tucked her in, and tipped back to the door.<p>

"Sleep tight and sweet dreams Alice." She called quietly over her shoulder. "I love you."


	4. Forgetful Nature

_Oh my goodness! A fourth chapter! YAY!_

_Thanks_ _to neonpanda for the review! I know so many issues and the wolf! Suspense!_

_Hope you guys enjoy this chapter too!_

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><p>Fairer Tales: Forgetful Nature<p>

_How? HOW!_

It took Queen Megara a moment to compose herself. The mirror's restating of the long ago prophecy had shook her to her core. The mirror's final mistake of the day had been laughing at her disheveled state, but her laughter hadn't lasted long, the queen had used her powers to torture the mirror girl into a state of unconsciousness.

Queen Megara now sat back in her rooms, in front of her vanity, putting her appearance back to right. Shaky hands replaced curls that had slipped loose from their holdings in her attack of the mirror. Icy blue eyes found their match in the reflection of the ordinary vanity mirror, a simple question rang through her mind. _How?_

How? How had she forgotten the day she had first heard that prophecy? She had gone to long lengths to find out what or who this "tamer" was supposed to be, and what "beast" the prophecy was referring to. So far her searching hadn't turned up much; the first telling of the prophecy had claimed that at the time she was told the infamous "tamer" had come into being, it hadn't been any clearer. No matter what she did she couldn't find out anything specifically, but that was the way of things wasn't it. Prophecy's never told you the whole story and even if they did it would all be in riddle. Nonetheless, the lack of information had not put a stop to Megara's search for the "tamer"; what would it matter the "beast" if she could dispose of the "tamer"? It had been a long road getting to where she was now, as queen, and she wasn't about to give it up to some "tamer".

Megara had searched everywhere. She had first assumed that the "tamer" would be Fae, but there had been no news of a Fae child being born in the Underground, and since children were so rare and prized among her kind it would have been something that she would have noticed. She began searching for other babes that had been born in the Underground, ones of nobility, those born into some sort of power. The list grew the more she looked, and by the time she considered it she didn't even want to look Above. While the humans were lacking in anything special she would not underestimate them as some of her kind had; she had seen the result of that folly and would not follow blindly in their footsteps.

There had been a decent number of births among those of some form of inherited power Underground, and the ever present problem with humans both Above and Underground was their ability to spawn a slew of descendents within one generation. There was no way that she'd be able to dispose of any babes, Above or Underground, without calling attention to herself in some way.

Having calmed down significantly, Megara looked over her put back together appearance and found it just as flawless as she had earlier that morning. Well, almost. Her brows were still knit together in concentration as she tried to think of how she was going to take care of this "occurrence". Maybe she was thinking and going about this whole situation the wrong way, after all there's always a solution to "setbacks" like these. "Leola!"

A brief moment later a young servant girl nervously entered the queen's chambers. "You called for me, my lady?"

"Yes," Megara watched the skittish girl's reflection shift uncomfortable just within the door way in her mirror. "I shall be quite busy in my study, make sure to it that I am not disturbed."

"Yes my lady, as you wish." She curtsied quickly, doing everything possible not to make eye contact with the queen. Standing, Megara made her way over to the girl; using a pointed finger, the queen lifted the downcast face of the servant girl cowering in front of her until her large brown eyes were locked with the queen's cold icy blues.

"And as for my meals… make sure to leave on the table, by the balcony, I will take my meals there." The queen looked over the young girl, a mask of indifference masking her thoughts. "Am I understood?"

"Y-yes, yes your majesty." The young girl stammered shifting uneasily from one foot onto the other.

"Good, you're dismissed."

"Yes, my lady. Thank you, my lady." The girl bowed as she slowly backed towards the door. Upon reaching it she quickly slipped out of the door, shutting it behind her. A smug grin worked its way across Megara's beautiful face. _Hmph, "deer"; how appropriate of a name for such a girl._

Entering her study, Megara gave a swift gesture with her hand, the curtains instantly swung open at the pull of her magic. The sunlight flooded her study, illuminating books and ancient tomes, vesicles and candles. Other than her mirror room, she spent quite a bit of her time here, thinking, researching, finding… solutions to whatever problems she encountered on her rise to the top.

Megara paused a moment, reflecting back on her climb. For as long as she could remember, she knew she had deserved… better. She had been born to a quaint couple, duke and duchess, well known, well respected. Being married off to some young duke or baron was not what Megara had ever imagined for herself. She'd always wanted to be a princess, and once she realized that it wouldn't simply be given to her, she was prepared to go after it tooth and nail. First she'd need money, that she acquired with her first marriage; her young husband had met with an unfortunate and untimely end, something involving iron while Above, but no matter how many may have whispered it, she didn't have a hand in it. No she was completely innocent this time. But she took advantage of the situation none the less, played the part of the pining widow well enough for everyone to cease their suspicions and catch the attention of a young prince, which helped her with second step, a step up in ranks. She had pushed him away and ignored his advances, in the beginning. Eventually she gave in, they were wed and she was crowned a princess. But she soon realized that it wasn't enough. She wanted more. A few more years, some more strategic planning, and a dash of underhanded tactics she was finally on the throne as queen. She had made many sacrifices in her quest, some would cause more than one person to frown upon her, but she didn't care. She had achieved her goal and now ruled over Lunarwood, and was willing to do anything to keep it that way.

Returning from her little trip down memory lane, Queen Megara prepped herself for the task at hand.

* * *

><p>The next morning greeted Jareth sooner than he would have liked.<p>

There was no real desire to get out of bed today; most of the night had been spent trying to shake the feeling of uneasy impending… something. The unknown had been prodding Jareth's mind, leaving it raw with thought, questioning, and a general sense of restlessness. He had finally managed to silence his curious nature just before the sun's rays began to peak over the farthest edges of the labyrinth. Laying in his dark chambers. Jareth rolled back over, ready to sleep the day a way; others however did not see things that way. Like a whirlwind of cheer and bustling 'get up'-ness, the head of the household staff, one of the individuals who had known him when he was younger and had followed him to the Goblin City, swept into the room; immediately spotting the closed drapes, swooped down on them and flung them open with nothing more than a cheery and pleasant, "Good morning!"

"Nanny…" Jareth groaned, as he pulled the covers higher above his head.

"Good morning young sire!" she chirped, flinging back more drapes, allowing the sun to bleed in farther. "And what a wonderful day it's shaping up to be."

"Nanny…"

"Just look at that wonderful Underground sunshine!"

"Nanny…"

"Now come, now." Her voice was closer to the bed now, and he was certain she was giving him one of those familiar stern looks, probably with her hands on her hips. "What's all this then? Come on get up! None of this ridiculousness out of you!"

"Nanny." Jareth warned from under the covers the moment he felt her tiny hands latch on to the covers.

"Don't give me any of that 'Nanny' nonsense. Get up now! You've slept long enough."

"I would beg to differ."

"Well then that's what you get when you spend the night 'sampling' down in the wine cellar with your cousin."

"Why don't you go bother him then?"

"Don't you worry I'm headed there next, now come on then! Move!" with that final command Nanny gave a firm jerk, snatching the covers, and Jareth's only shield from the sun, off. Her action was met with a growl of frustration and general unhappiness, and a glare ready to set half the castle on fire. "Now what's this then? You look like you haven't slept a wink!"

"I haven't." Jareth took her moment of surprise as the perfect opportunity to snatch back his covers. "If you must know, last night wasn't exactly 'restful', and it's not the first night either."

"I've noticed, mind on explaining why?" Nanny inquired, arms crossed waiting. Just one of her many looks that Jareth had learned and lived with over the years. He wasn't sure how old Nanny actually was, when he was young he'd already thought she was pretty old, now he wasn't even sure, but he'd knew better than to ask, that was something engrained into him as a child. Nanny had always been there, chasing him around, usually catching him in some sort of trouble that he was certain he would have gotten away with. But she'd always accepted him, and had always been there, which was more than could have been said for some people that had been through Jareth's life.

"I can't…"

"Well, then, I think I can. 'Sampling', that's what, that and chasing around young women with your cousin, not surprising with the High King as your father. If you kept your mind about yourself-"

"I said I can't not because I won't. I … just can't."

"You don't know?" she asked after a pause.

"No, I don't. And that's what's keeping me up. I know something's coming. I can feel it, the Labyrinth can feel it, others around me can feel it; it's driving me crazy, I can almost taste it! And the most aggravating part about it, I'm not even sure how to go about finding out what 'it' is!"

Wrinkling her aged brow with thought and concentration, Nanny pondered the circumstances, searching the depths of her mind for some piece of age old wisdom that would service the young king in some way. Jareth watched as the gears turned and Nanny scoured the recesses of her mind for advice. Individuals of the High Court, aged and wise though they may have been, Jareth never found himself going to them for advice; far more often than not they would give when it wasn't called for and then frown upon the Goblin King for not considering their words. This was why Jareth preferred Nanny. She gave advice when asked or when she knew it was needed, that and she was one of the few people who could make him feel bad if his mistake was caused from not heeding their advice; unlike those of the High Court then, she never rubbed it in, she let him figure it out himself and would quietly accept his apology if or when he gave it.

"Why don't you, get yourself some rest for now-"

"What-"

"Don't interrupt! Now what was I saying? Oh yes! You rest for now, what you need at the moment before you can even consider doing anything is some rest. Once you've rested and gotten back to 'normal' why don't you take some time to yourself to think. Go out, take a flight maybe, you usually do some of your best thinking while flying, or so you've said. Then once you've thought of something come back and solve your problem."

"Are you saying that flying will give me the answer to my question?" Jareth quipped, skeptically.

"Well if you don't come up with anything, at least your mind will be cleared. And though that may not be the actual result you're looking for, having a clear mind isn't a bad thing either now is it?"

Jareth grinned as he considered his words and nodded his agreement. Nanny smiled and began pulling a few of the drapes closed to cut back on some of the sun. Once finished she left the room, the staffs quarters her next goal, to pass on the word to not disturb the king. Back in the comforting sanctuary of his covers, the Goblin King released a deep sigh, closed his eyes, and tried once again to quiet his mind. Nanny, in her strange and infinite knowledge, was right. Some sleep and then a flight later to take his mind off of things was more than likely for the best. The last clear thought Jareth remembered having before he finally slipped into a sound sleep was where to take this mind clearing jaunt.

"Aboveground sounds nice… I should think…" he said to no one in particular as sleep finally wrapped him in its arms and took his anxious mind away.

* * *

><p><em>Oooh<em> _suspense! Well not really!_

_Things are getting pretty well underway now ladies and gents! I think some pretty interesting stuff is about to get underway!_

_Next chapter, looks like everyone's heading Aboveground!_

_Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed! Please review!_


	5. The Girl, That Girl

_What! Another chapter! Woot!_

_This one's a little longer than the one before so we can get to some more of the action!_

_Thanks to those who have been reading and even those who just joined! Hope you're enjoying yourself so far!_

* * *

><p>Fairer Tales: The Girl, That Girl<p>

This morning had started out much like mornings before, where Alice awoke, got ready for school and made her way, in a zombie sort of fashion, downstairs to eat. By the time her breakfast had just started to settle she would have finally started to actually wake up and notice the world around her. Today however was slightly different than those before, because as she cleared her dishes off the table she heard the simple tolling of the doorbell and Georgie clambering off to answer it.

"ALICE! IT'S WILLIS!" the shout came from around the corner a moment later, bring Alice around the corner with almost break neck speed, crashing into the person who now stood in the doorway.

"Willis! You're back!" The brunette boy crushed her to his chest in his signature hug as a laugh boiled its way up out of his chest.

"Back from the dead you would think by looks of it." Gigi commented as she came around the corner holding Alice's backpack. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better thank you. Just a small bug, mom suggested I take the day off yesterday before it got too bad, you know, stop it before it stops you sort of thing."

"Sound planning."

"Well," Willis smiled turning his face back to the gray eyes in front of him. "You ready to head off? I brought my extra helmet, do you need to grab pants?"

Before Alice could answer Georgie appeared beside her holding a spare pair of jeans that she usually wore when she road with Willis to school; the blue uniforms were mandatory, but as long as she took the jeans off before school hours began it wasn't usually a big deal.

"I don't now!" Alice turned, grabbing the pants from Georgie, kicked off her shoes and proceeded to wiggle into them.

"Oh Alice really? At least go around the corner!" Gigi sighed, Willis had already turned his back and busied himself with the zipper of his jacket.

"No point now, they're on aren't they? Besides no point in making us late, right?" Alice grinned having put on her jacket as well and took her backpack from Gigi.

"Be safe you two!" Gigi called as Alice fell in step behind Willis as he went out the door and down the drive to the motorcycle that stood at the ready. "Wait Willis, that's not your bike. Where'd this one come from?"

"Dad, he got a new one not too long ago, and mine's in the shop for a bit, so he let me take his old one. Don't worry though, it handles the same as mine." He added checking Alice's helmet.

"That's not what I'm worried about," Gigi sighed as she gave the crotch rocket at the curb a once over. "Try to do the speed limit please."

"Always." Willis grinned. Having settled himself on the bike he waited patiently as Alice situated herself comfortably behind him. Satisfied with her seating, Alice leaned forward, wrapping her arms around her friends waist; putting down the visor on his helmet, Willis gave a salute to Gigi before pulling away from the curb and zipping down the street, pausing briefly at the stop sign before disappearing around the corner. Once out of sight, Gigi stopped waving, and turning to Georgie sighed.

"Come on you, have to get you off to school before you're late."

Riding with Willis was something that Alice found hard to describe. It was almost like flying, wind zipping past your face, but like running, churning your blood and making your heart race, everything around you a blur.

It was freedom.

On the rides like this to school, Alice could escape from everything, even the hectic nature of her mind. These brief moments on the back of Willis' bike were so serene, so calming that she almost found herself loathing the time when the ride would end, when that final turn into the school came and signaled the cease of the ride's calming nature.

"So how was school yesterday? I miss much?" Willis asked removing his helmet, preparing to help Alice with hers.

"Same, same; you didn't miss much. Dunaway's still grouchy and Abigail's still obnoxious." Alice gave up on the clasp of the helmet, resigning to let Willis deal with it, determined to let the calm feeling of the ride last as long as possible.

Willis chuckled, "Well glad to see nothing's changed. Speak of the devil, here comes Miss Connelly now."

Alice pulled the helmet off, and glanced up just in time to notice Abigail stepping out of the sports car of one of her friends. Rolling her eyes Alice sat her helmet down on the seat of the bike.

"ALICE!" A voice called out from within the maze of student cars and before she could react Alice was swept up in a bone crushing, lung collapsing hug.

"Jesus, Vince let her go before you kill her!"

"Buzz off Willis, it's not that bad!" Vincent joked as he sat Alice back down. "How are you by the way? Missed you!"

"Missed you too." Alice coughed as she regained air in her lungs. "Good by the way, thanks. Hey stand over there I need to take care of these." Barricading herself between Willis and Vincent, the bike and a nearby car, Alice wiggled out of her jeans and stuffed them into her backpack. Once she was done both boys turned around and proceeded to walk with her into the school. On their way they were joined by Ilex, the boisterous Amazon Alice had met in fifth grade, Eleanor the one person who seemed to always know how to calm everyone within the group down, Aldrick the quite observer and Tucker the youngest. "Hey Vincent I almost forgot how's your grandma doing?"

"Oh Gran-Gran's fine. She was more worried about how her sweet Codruta was doing."

"Codruta?" Eleanor chirped. "What's that?"

"It's a Romanian name, it means "little girl from the woods". She called Alice that when she first met her and it's stuck ever since." Vincent turned back to Alice. "I said you were fine, but she still wants you to come by the store more often, says she misses your visits, misses talking to you."

"Hey, Willis do you think…"

"Yeah we can make a detour after school."

"Awesome!"

"Well this is where we get off!" Vincent stated, looping his arm through Alice's and waving off Eleanor, Ilex, Aldrick, and Tucker. "See you kiddos at lunch then."

Vincent plopped down in his seat in next to Alice, starting in immediately on a crazy story about Gran-Gran and her little store, and how she had chased someone's child out with her cane, Willis slid into his seat behind her as the rest of the class filed in waiting for Dunaway to begin his usual drone. Leaning forward to get her attention Willis spotted something in Alice's backpack. Reaching down to retrieve it he glanced over the cover, holding it up he got Alice's attention.

"What's this?"

"Oh! That-"

"What's this? Is this little Orphan Alice's diary?" Abigail swooped in from seemingly nowhere and swiped the book from Willis' hand. "Did you write how you did it? Future generations I'm sure would love to know how you offed your parents Nelson."

"God Abigail, it's a book! Give it back!" Alice made a grab for it, only to have her pull it just out of the reach.

"Why should I?"

"Because it's mine!"

"Come on Abby it's a book, you know? I'm sure you've seen one before."

"Shut-up Vincent! And it's Abigail! Not Abby!"

"Give it back, now!" Alice got out of her desk, standing toe to toe with Abigail.

"'Gimme, gimme, never gets!'" Willis grabbed hold of Alice's wrist pulling her back from what he was sure was the last step she would take towards Abigail before hitting her.

"What's going on in here?" At some point the bell had tolled, summoning Dunaway from the dark recesses of the school. Seeing Abigail and Alice at odds and a little red book amidst the whole thing, Dunaway promptly snatched the book from Abigail and briefly flipped through it. "What's this Miss Nelson?"

"It's a book."

"As I can very well see, Miss Nelson. Where did you get it?"

"The library."

"I see no tag on it."

"It's on the inside, just before the title page. And there's another one on the inside of the back cover. I checked it out the other day."

"Hmm." Was all he said as he perused the pages for a moment longer before turning the book back over to Alice. "Put it away Miss Nelson, a book of such fancy and frivolities has no business in this classroom. Logic and pure sound reasoning are what are welcome here! Silly childhood notions of magic and fairy tale creatures such as goblins and the like are nothing but nonsense; nonsense that can easily be written off and proven false with fact."

And so began another lecture on logic and intelligence and the importance of both. Another lecture which Alice would pay absolutely not attention to, it was only homeroom after all; Vincent flagged her attention, leaning over the isle while Dunaway's back was turned so he could be heard better.

"Hey what's got Abigail the Awful so fired up with you?"

"Other than the usual?" Vincent nodded. "Gigi got a call yesterday. Apparently she got hurt by something and tried to pin it on me. She'd cornered me on the way home but when I left her she was fine."

"My opinion? You should have socked her when you had the chance."

"Vincent!" Mr. Dunaway paused in his morning rant when he realized that one of his students was not paying attention. "Would you like to share with the class what you find so interesting?"

"I-I was just saying that it was interesting that you chose teaching high school, you obviously seem much more suited for the higher academic field, college professor perhaps." Alice and Willis bit back the urge to laugh as Vincent pulled his response out of nowhere, turning on the charm, hoping that Dunaway would simply continue his lecture without much ado. Something in Vincent's blatant lie most have triggered something in the high school teacher because he beamed before launching into an epic tale on his experiences in high education and how he'd chosen his career path.

"Nice save." Alice whispered.

"Always." Vincent grinned back.

* * *

><p>Wind tickling his wings Jareth's owl form sailed over the rolling landscape. He wasn't sure where he was going or what he was planning to do when he got there, but the fact that he was on the move was enough. Nanny had been right, the flight was proving to be the sedative that he needed; the soothing nature of the act a freedom from the churning, violent nature of his mind as of late.<p>

For about the fourth time in his flight he pondered where he was actually headed and again no real answer came, just the urge to get somewhere was what kept him from turning around and going back to the Underground. The Above was so much different. It's lack of magic aside, everything from the sights and smells were different, there was a distinct pulse to the Aboveground and Jareth wasn't sure if it was because the world had pretty much forgotten magic or because it had created a magic of its own.

Alighting on the branch of a tall tree, the Goblin King's owl form sat erect and alert, looking for, he wasn't sure what, but scanning the terrain around him none the less. Taking in his surroundings he noted that he was on the edge of a forested area, the backside of what appeared to be a large sprawling building; picnic tables were scatter around with bins for garbage spotted near some of them. The vague fence line around the property, the arrangement of the building, and the sporting fields off to the sides of it Jareth surmised he had landed near a school. Somewhere a bell tolled and students came spilling out of the interior, some heading toward the picnic tables while others were making their ways to cars in the front of the building; by the looks of the students he finalized he was at what the humans in the Above called a high school.

Continuing to scan the area, the Goblin King prepped himself for takeoff when a small group caught his attention. A group of seven separated themselves from the others coming out to eat their meals, they immediately drifted to a picnic table that was pulled farther away from the others and proceeded to carry on as if in a world of their own. This act however was not enough to catch the attention of the Goblin King, but the fact that the other six seemed to be centered around one girl in the group. He watched, intrigued, as one helped her onto the picnic table and as she settled in took a seat next to her so he could watch her and the others. Three took various seats on the benches of the picnic table while the remaining two hovered around the table, seemingly trying to get attention of the girl and the one next to her. This behavior was so amusing, so interesting to Jareth, the only time he'd seen something like this was when he himself sat in his throne and the various goblins had vied for his attention; this pricked his curiosity, who was the girl?

"Alice!"

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><p><em>Oooh so close! Is it mean to bring you guys that close and then stop?<em>

_I don't know but things sure are starting to pick up aren't they! What are we five chapters in and Jareth final sees Alice? Doesn't even meet her, just sees her._

_I promise I'm not trying to torture you guys! It's just how I write. :)_

_Stay tuned for more. And as always please review! :)_


	6. Questions and Interests

_WOOT! New chapter!_

_ZuliaGirl: I'm glad your random perusing led you to something you liked!_

_ Neonpanda: I can't remember if I responded to you last time or not, but yes, yes she totally is a bitch._

_Alright, now on to the chapter!_

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><p>Hours of research had left Queen Megara tired, frustrated, and rubbing her brow, which she was sure would only lead to wrinkles. Sighing she switched from her brows to massaging her temples; what could she do wasn't the question, it was more of what had not thought of yet. She had been over the prophecy multiple times, had considered various interpretations, looked for possible instances where something like this may have happened before, and so far she had come up empty handed.<p>

She had left her study hours ago and had began eating the meal that had been left as instructed by one of the other mousey little servant girls that attended her. Placing another grape in her mouth, muddling over the last few hours fruitlessness, Megara felt a surge of frustration and anger rise through her prompting her to sweep everything from the table to the floor. It didn't make any sense and the more time she sat here trying to ponder things out the close everything was coming together. What if she were already too late? What if everything had aligned, taken place, and there were but mere days, or moments before her downfall would come.

"No! Stop it! Stop it now, get a hold of yourself." She caught her crazed reflection in the mirror of her vanity and tried to calm herself. "Now stop and think. One must keep their wits about them, there's still time, yes I still have time. If only you could simply give me the answer I seek." As Megara ran her hand over the intricate detailing of her vanity mirror a thought occurred to her.

"Mirrors… Of course! Why did I not think of that before? LEOLA!" a brief moment later the serving girl appeared.

"Yes your majesty?"

"I will be going out. If anyone asks for me tell them that I am busy and that I do not wish to be disturbed. Am I clear?" she watched as the girl nodded. "And make sure this mess is cleaned up and in order by the time I get back. I want to have a fresh meal ready for me upon my return, I want it hot, and I don't want to be kept waiting."

"Yes your majesty, understood."

"Good, now go find something to clean this up with."

"Y-yes your majesty." The girl scurried out of the room before Megara could shout at her again. Striding over to her wardrobe, the queen removed a dark velvet cloak from it, encircling her shoulders with it. Pulling the hood over her hair she caught herself in her vanity mirror again, and realized this would never do; as proud as she was of her looks she knew better than to head out on this errand with her own face. Taking a moment to think, Megara conjured a glamour around herself turning her appearance from that of a stately queen to that of a young maid, possibly the daughter of a well to do landowner, no one would think twice about her being out walking about.

Running her hand across the surface of the wall Megara's fingers found the stone they were looking for; pressing the small stone, she took a step back as the stones rolled away and repositioned themselves revealing a hidden stairway that descended into shadows. Plucking a torch from the inside of the wall she gathered the rest her skirts to make sure that they weren't caught as the door closed behind her. Every stone back in place she began her decent down the winding staircase. The tunnel turned and twisted within the very body of the castle and it wasn't the only one like it, there was a nest of them, like a hive, within the castle and spread out like tentacles into some of the surrounding area. She used them for many reasons, but this one she'd almost forgotten about she hadn't used it in so long. The stairs ceased as the tunnel bottomed out and weaved it way along underground, pretty soon she came to another set of stairs, this time leading up and depositing her in some small ruins just beyond site of the castle. She dropped the torch into a small water fountain and quickly set off into the woods. It didn't take her long to find the small lodgings she was searching for. Coming up to the door she knocked, quietly hoping the one who resided within was still there. The door swung open and an old wrinkled face came a mere breaths away from her own, squinting and scrutinizing every feature.

"Hmph, you think that glamour is really going to fool anyone?" the old crone snapped, standing in the doorway of the small stone building.

"It works just fine." Queen Megara snipped back. "Are you going to invite me in?"

"I suppose I should." The elder woman shuffled out of the door making room for Megara to enter and shut the door soundly behind her. Once inside of the small building she removed the glamour she was shrouded in, loving the idea that she was back in her own skin.

"Speaking of glamour, at least mine is a little more flattering. Any particular reason for the little old granny look?"

"As you stated so simply, 'it works just fine' and it would appear that in your time as queen you seem to have lost your respect for your elders." The crone stood in the center of the room, sweeping her arms in front of her and over her face her glamour began to melt away, revealing from the wrinkled doubled over form a much younger, lithe and rather curvy shape. Silver and thinning hair regained its thickness and its deep raven coloring, wrinkled and creased skin smoothed and became alabaster once more. Lips turned from faded and chapped, to a full rosebud red, and shifty eyes once more became malevolent in both in their coloring and their nature, a sinister green that fit perfectly with her other features. "Or am I simply mistaken?"

"Forgive me, Eldress Lamia, I have forgotten myself."

"All is well, Sister Megara, now what is it that brings you to my door? It's been so long since our last visit, I had started to think you'd forgotten me." The tall pale woman tucked a blonde lock behind Megara's ear before gliding across the floor to take a seat in a high backed chair.

"It's about a prophecy-"

"Yes I remember the one, 'From the swells of your enemy will be brought forth Truth, a Tamer, set out to quell the Beast brought forth from your blood. Truth shall be your destruction.' What of it." Lady Lamia watched as Megara fumbled for the right words to use next. "Oh my, you forgot about the prophecy didn't you."

"I did not!" Buy Lady Lamia's cruel, judgmental laughter was already filling the small stone house. "You must help me! One of the enchanted mirrors I had claimed that the time is close at hand! Everything I've done has been to be sure to secure my place, I do not wish to lose it now!"

"Calm yourself sister."

"How can I? I've gone over in my mind multiple times everything I've done! Every conquest, every chess move, everything I've done to raise my way through the ranks. I've taken care of all loose ends, covered my tracks, made sure that everything I've done is either unsolvable or easily blamed on some other factor. I know not where this threat could be coming from! All priors I have taken care of! I am at my wits end Lady Lamia! I don't know what else I could do!"

"First you must relax yourself, here sit." The raven haired woman commanded, motioning for the young woman to take her chair and conjuring a cup of tea on the side table next to it for her to drink; Megara sat, and nervously glanced at the cup. All of the teachings Lady Lamia had bestowed on her had not come without a price, the simple knowledge that she was just as disposable as others who had come before her, if Lady Lamia saw her as a liability she would be rid of her. The green eyed woman watched as the blue eyed woman scrutinized the cup before her and bit back another laugh.

"Drink fool, you have nothing to worry about. It's a simple cup of tea. Now," She continued leaning against a table near the fire place. "I remember the day you first brought me the prophecy, and we dealt with it as a sign to proceed slowly. This was before you became queen, if I can remember correctly. I am assuming that because you now wear the crown you were successful in your endeavors. Now about the details of the prophecy, 'From the swells of your enemy will be brought forth Truth', remind me what did we discern from this?"

Megara sipped her tea, recognizing the test in the question. "We discerned that it meant that a child would be born and that child would become the Tamer from the prophecy."

Lamia nodded. "Correct, but we could not discern from where the child would come, whether it be Above or Underground. What did we discern of the Beast from the prophecy?"

Megara thought for a moment. "Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"We both came to the conclusion if the Tamer was taken care of then the Beast did not matter."

"Yes I remember now. Well it would seem that now that time has passed and your prior 'movements' have ceased to keep this under control I suppose the Beast is something that we should begin to focus on, that would seem to be our only lead. Unless…"

"Unless…"

"You say you took care of all 'loose ends' are you sure?"

"Yes I am certain!" Megara thought back to the secret room in her quarters containing the multitude of mirrors with the various souls imprisoned within. "I have proof of such."

"Oh yes, that small trick with the mirrors that you are so fond of." Lady Lamia thought back to when Megara had first learned this act and how fascinated she became with it. Just then a thought occurred to her. "So all of the people you have disposed of, their souls are encased within the mirrors?"

"Yes, of course."

"What of those that knew them, their family or friends?"

"Everything that was ever done to one of them was left to be perceived as an accident or a nature occurrence. Nothing can be traced back to me."

"This I understand but what of others who may have known them. For example that one mortal woman you had issue with, what did you do with her?"

"Same as the others, her death was made to look like an unfortunate accident. All loose ends tied up, leaving no room for me to be connected to anything."

"And she too is imprisoned in a mirror."

"Yes." Megara finished off the last of her tea. "Why are you so curious about her?"

"I always have been, I was confused as to why you put so much focus into a mere mortal woman."

"She was no 'mere mortal woman'. I had met her before a few times, both in the Above and Underground. There was a power locked away inside her that I wanted."

"And did you succeed in getting what you wanted?"

"In retrieving her power, no, but she's out of my hair none the less, so I call that a victory any rate." Megara pondered the questions Lady Lamia was asking her, curious of what she was hoping to gain from this information.

"Was the woman with child?"

"No, she wasn't, she had a child however."

"And, what of the child?"

"Dealt with like the others."

"Dealt with?"

"Dead. The child is dead."

"Did you witness this? The death of the child?"

"No but-"

"No? Who dealt with the child? Why did you not take care of the babe yourself?"

"At the time I only had time to take care of the mortal woman, if I had stayed I would have been missed, raising suspicions. I left the other there to take care of the babe, she was instructed in what to do, and to bring back proof. If she didn't succeed it would mean her death."

"And the proof was the child's soul in the mirror I suppose."

"Yes. It's placed with the others. Why this curiosity in this woman and the fate of her child?"

"Because one thing I have noticed is that though fragile mortals will change almost instantly when it comes to protecting their children."

"The woman would have hardly had any time to protect herself let alone her child."

"Hmm, I still say it was a waste of resources to go after her but it was your choice and since you stand by it I suppose I can find no fault in it. At any rate we must come back to the issue of the Beast now shouldn't we, the 'Beast brought forth from your blood'. It would appear that this is our only lead."

"Yes it would look that way."

"So how is your son?"

"Diomed? He is well, he's grown into a strong handsome man, clever, cunning, an very resourceful. He's been well groomed for king."

"This I can imagine. I suppose he takes after his late father. But that is not the son I'm referring to. How is your other son doing? The one you gave up."

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><p>"Alice!"<p>

"Good grief, she's right here you don't have to yell Tucker, what is it?"

Alice watched as Tucker pondered the rebuke from Eleanor for a moment before rolling his eyes and turning his attention back to Alice. "So are you going to be trying out for the musical this year?"

"Uh, no, Tucker."

"Why not! Willis says you have a wonderful voice!"

"I don't want to sing up in front of the school that's why. And you said you wouldn't bring up my singing anymore." An accusing glace was tossed Willis' way.

"I can't help it, you have a nice voice. I think you should go out for it, if not the musical than maybe the talent show."

"Yeah, not nearly as many people go to that, so it wouldn't be the whole school."

"No Tucker, and stop encouraging him Willis."

"Honestly they both have a point." Ilex chimed in.

"Oh not you too."

"Come on we'd rather hear you belt out a few lyrics than Abigail."

"And that, Ilex, is another reason I'm not going to do it."

"Why," Vincent questioned jumping into the conversation now. "Just cause Abby the Awful will be there? That's no real reason."

"I see her enough during class and on the way home. I can barely stand her during those times why would I put myself in a position where I'd be stuck with her for hours of my free time!"

"Because you can sing circles around her." Eleanor stated simply in between bites of her sandwich.

"Look, I'm not singing, in the talent show, or in the musical. It's not going to happen, so can we just drop it please?"

"Don't get so bent out of shape about it," Ilex rubbed her arm. "What's the big deal? I thought you liked singing."

"I-I do, it's just that it's something I do on the side, it's a hobby, I see no reason to go parading around in front of the school something like that. I know it sounds stupid but it just feels to personal to put out there."

"It's not stupid," Tucker muttered. "I like hearing you sing. I just thought maybe you'd find it fun, I didn't mean to upset you."

"You didn't Tucker, I just…" Alice paused, after some thought she ruffled his hair and smiled. "I'll give it some thought okay?"

"Awesome!"

"If you do go through with it, you'll be much more refreshing than Abigail, I hear she's signed up for everything the school is doing this year that involves a spot light." Vincent added plopping down next to Tucker on the bench.

"You know," Ilex locked eyes with Vincent. "A person would never guess that you use to have eyes for Abigail."

"You did?" Tucker spun around.

"It was a long time ago." Vincent defended.

"Not that long ago."

"Shut up Ilex!"

"No need to get snippy with me! Just telling the truth!"

"I think we can all agree it was a bad idea on all points, and it's something I'd like to forget."

"What'd you ever see in her?" Eleanor chirped scooting closer to Ilex so she could see Vincent better.

"I don't know, she didn't seem too bad. She seemed like a genuinely nice person, then, I'm not sure what happened, but long story short it was a bad idea and I learned my lesson so can we please drop it, and talk about something else?"

"Speaking of Abigail," Willis ignored that stink eye he was receiving from Vincent as he turned his attention back to Alice. "What was that book that from earlier? The one that she snatched from me?"

"Oh this thing?" Alice rummaged through her bag, removing the red leather bound book from earlier. "I was in the library the other day and just sort of stumbled across it." She continued as Willis took the book from her and flipped through it.

"'The Labyrinth'." The others interest seemed to have been peaked at the mention of the title for the all gathered closer to get a better look at the small book.

"Weird name huh?"

"Have you read it yet?"

"Yeah, and it was okay I suppose."

"Just okay?" Willis asked. Alice watched his actions, she wasn't sure why he was examining the book as he was, it was almost as if he expected it to jump up and bite him.

"Well I say that because, well, I just couldn't get into it. Or believe it for that matter. I mean the girl in the story," Alice took back the book and flipped through until she found the page she was looking for. "Here, this, Sarah, she's the main character, right? And supposedly this Goblin King he's supposed to be in love with her, right? But I don't see why, or for that matter how, they've never met. But this was what really got me. Here, '_But what no one knew, was that he was secretly in love with the girl… and he had given the girl special powers.' _Special powers that she then turns right around and uses to wish her little brother away just because he won't be quiet. I don't know, I suppose it was good enough of a story but, I just, I feel like there should be more."

Willis said nothing for a minute watching Alice try to piece together the right words to describe her feelings toward the story. Just then Aldrich, who'd been reclining against Alice's leg the whole time eating his lunch and uttering nothing, slowly sat up, eyes locked on something off in the distance. Nudging Willis to get his attention without calling attention from the others, gestured silently for Willis to look over his shoulder. Glancing around, at first Willis noticed nothing and was about to turn around when his eyes, scanning higher up in the trees, noticed a lone white bird perched, watching. The bird simply stared back. Willis was unsure of whether it had noticed it had been discovered or if it simply didn't care; one thing however, he didn't really care for it being there.

"Oh wow! An owl!" Noticing he was distracted Alice had stopped listening to the others and followed his line of sight to the bird in the tree. "Wow it's huge!"

"It's just because he's close." Aldrich stated simply. Willis and Aldrich shared a look, a silent conversation passing between them before Aldrich spoke again. "Hey Vincent weren't you going to ask Alice for help with something?"

"Oh yeah!" he grinned sheepishly, smacking a hand to his forehead. "I was wondering if you would like to help me, you see I have this photo project… Actually it'll be easier to explain if I show you." With that he hopped up, gathered his and Alice's garbage and started walking her toward the building all the while trying to explain what he had in mind.

"A photo shoot?" were the last clear words Willis heard from Alice as he lingered behind with the others, another silent conversation passed between them before they ran off to catch up with Vincent and Alice as a bell tolled signaling the end of the lunch period. Willis lingered behind longer, watching the bird who had been watching them. After a moment longer of their staring contest, the bird shifted it position and took flight, circling above for a moment before soaring off into the distance. Once it was gone from sight, Willis turned and made a beeline for the school, casting a weary look over his shoulder as he went, making a mental note of what he'd seen. One thing was certain, this little encounter did not sit well with him, not in the least.

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><p><em>So her name is Alice, hmm? <em> The Goblin King thought as his owl form left the high school behind._ Interesting. Interesting indeed._

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><p>Peeking out from under benches and behind trash cans, the tiny group of goblins that had been following the girl, their girl around had not expected for the meeting between their king and their girl to go like this. But she had read the book, and he had seen her, so maybe, just maybe there was a chance, they thought as they quickly scurried to return to the Underground before they'd be missed. A chance that something interesting just might happen.<p>

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><p>And that is the end of chapter six ladies and gents!<p>

Megara has kids? What's Lady Lamia's role? Why is Abigail such a fart? So many questions I've left unanswered! That's what next chapter will be for!

Thanks again to those who read, those who fave the way you do, and those who are kind enough to leave reviews!


	7. Secrets and Shadows

_Yay! New chapter! It's been a minute hasn't it?  
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_Thanks to those who are reading, favorite, following, and commenting, and all that other fun awesome stuff that you do!_

_I truly appreciate it and it's really helping push me to write more! I really love reading what you guys have to say!  
><em>

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><p>The walk back to the castle had been a long one for Queen Megara, the journey made even more so by the additional ponderings Lady Lamia had left her with. The twisting and winding path that she took mirrored her thoughts and memories as she made her slow way homeward, back to the castle and back to her private quarters, all the while out of sight. She had found her meal set out for her as she had requested, warm and waiting, but not nearly as inviting as one would hope. She ate without thinking much about it, the taste of the food before her never once taking her mind off of its wonderings. The serving girls were called in to her room to prepare a bath for her, and much like quiet mice treading around a sleeping cat they moved about the far reaches of the room, trying their best to not make a sound lest one of them should rouse her from her thinking stupor and cause her to lash out at all of them.<p>

Finally shooing them out of her quarters she entered into her bathroom, undressed and settled herself into the large bath, hoping that the warmth of the perfumed waters would at last relax her and carry her away. But it didn't work as well as she hoped, for as she sat in the bath her mind swirled and dipped back to her past, to her decisions, to her sons.

Diomed was her first born, a beautiful boy, young man now, handsome, clever, everything she could have asked for. Even at a young age she could see the ambition he had burning in his eyes; he was driven he always did well in all of his studies, and he always had a knack for getting what he wanted, no matter who from, he found a way to get what he wanted. Especially when it came to taking things from his younger brother, he had acquired a habit of taking whatever his brother liked or prized at the moment, whether Diomed had truly valued the item or not, he wanted it in his possession almost the instant he saw his younger brother with whatever it happened to be. Books, toys, anything, if he wanted it Diomed always found a way.

Sighing Megara stepped out of bath, drying off, she draped a robe around her shoulders and went to her wardrobe to find her night gown. Thinking of her second son always tired her, stressed her more than anything. Remembering him in the beginning had always made her question her decision to let him go, but she forced herself to put him out of her mind the more she realize her dwelling on him would hold her back. Much like Diomed, the boy had ambition and drive, but where he different was in his temperament. Though he could be wild and cantankerous, and quite the handful for some, his antics were often times quite amusing; he had clung to her and somehow had managed to wiggle his way into the depths of her heart, she smiled into her vanity mirror remembering him climbing into her lap at the end of the day, little hands playing with hers, searching for simple smiles and soft kisses, such motherly signs of affection, of which she freely gave. But that was the problem wasn't it? Or at least that was the way that Lady Lamia had posed it.

"_How do you expect to reach your goals? Do you really think that you can do this with that boy around? He's making you soft! And with that comes carelessness. Are you truly willing to jeopardize everything you've done, everything you have waiting before you, for a babe?"_ Lady Lamia had made her point, and as much as Megara had tried to ignore it and brush it off, the fact was simple and blaringly obvious, she had to give up the boy, because if Lady Lamia took care of it, it would fair far worse for the child. It was during a visit to the Fairy Court, she had spoke with the Fairy Queen Titania and without disclosing her reasons she had left her youngest son in her care.

The Fairy Queen had not pushed for answers when Megara had come to her, and though at first she was slightly furious with her actions she had taken the child willingly. Megara had expected such a reaction from the High Queen; children to their kind were a precious gift, a rarity, and were usually greatly celebrated and prized because of their rarity. A strange sort of fate they had been dealt as Fae. The price of their lengthy and almost immortal existence had been few offspring. It was a well known fact amongst their kind, and had been so for some time; at some point, back in their past, some became so discontent with the hand they were dealt that they simply took from those who had many.

Humans. Humans who so easily brought forth generation after generation. Some Fae men took mortal women as lovers to past their lineage, some even took the mortal women as wives. Some, however, cared to not bother with this practice of marriage and bonding with mortals, and some mortals were far to feisty to merely pluck from their home Above and try to contain them in the Underground, so some simply took children. The High Queen had been known to have an affinity for children, whether they be Fae or human changeling child, she seemed always ready to coddle one when the opportunity presented itself. Megara could not see anyone better than her to keep the boy, and the High Queen had made it clear to her multiple times within their meeting that she had no intention of returning the boy. And Megara had expressed her understanding, for that's what she told herself she want, what she told herself she needed, because she knew ultimately what she really wanted would not matter. What matter was Lady Lamia, and what she wanted, what she required, and whether or not she was pleased.

Lady Lamia was satisfied with her actions, her teachings resumed and Megara plunged ahead, charging full steam ahead toward her goals, her ambitions taking down anyone who got in her way. Lady Lamia had worked her so hard that she didn't have much time to think back on the boy as the years went on, her occasional visits to the fairy court to see the boy became less and less, and soon, he began to fade from memory as if he were simply a dream.

Now, now his memory was back, and with a vengeance. The fact that this boy, the boy she had to give up, could possibly be the end of her seemed almost, unfair. But since she was no closer to finding the "Tamer", he was the best lead that she had. Making her way back into her private study, she gave a great sweep of her hand and the candles with in the room burst into brilliance as she made her way to her desk. She was no fool however, she knew she'd have to proceed with extreme caution, much planning and thought had to be placed into every step that she took from this point on if she were to get the information she required. Having been gone out of the boy's life for so many years now, merely reappearing would be careless, she'd need to have a reason for reappearing, something that she could use, perhaps, to feign concern for his wellbeing. For this she would need eyes in places she could not be, eyes that would follow him everywhere, no matter where his ventures took him. Using a person was out of the question, they could easily be spotted if they conveniently showed up in every place he did; no she need something else, something that would not cause a second glance, something that not only remained in the shadows but merged with them as well. She knew exactly what she needed.

Riffling through the items in her desk, her hand brushed over the book she was looking for. She knew what she needed, she just wanted to double check, if she was going ahead with this there was no sense in making mistakes from the very start of things; when the page she was looking for came up, she noticed the design of the particular vial she required. Glancing up onto the various shelves above her she spotted the vessel she need, tucked away, quite unassuming.

Placing the book back within the safety of the drawer, Megara rose to her feet, securing the bottle within her grasp, and began turning it over in her hands admiring the design. The liquid inside was dark, like ink, but much more viscous; as she turned the bottle in her hands the liquid was slow to keep up, yes this was what she was looking for. Gingerly she removed the stopper, held the bottle in a tight grasp at arm's length, tipping it ever so slightly until one lone drop, for that was all she'd need for now, left the lip of the vessel and splattered on the stone floor with the softest plop. Resetting the stopper and placing the bottle on her desk she waited, and she didn't have to wait long.

The drop mark on the floor began to shift. Where it had splattered, its edges reaching out to every direction like little tentacles, they started to retract, pulling in on themselves and building in size. The little blob began to undulate, stretch, and grow. The jerky movements became more rapid as it grew in size, first doubling then tripling in both width and height, as it began taking on a vague form; where once was an amorphous shape now stood something that vaguely resembled the form of person. The stretching and pulling continued until with a simple snap, the being she had called forth stood before her.

A casual glance from behind would have simply suggested an individual, male, dressed in all black, nothing more. But the creature who stood before her now was not so simple. It stood tall and lean, its skin an ashen grey. Its eyes, the whites were a sharp contrast against its skin, but the irises were dark, much like its hair and its clothing, as if voids were placed there. A slow grin pulled at the lips of the creature, revealing sharp and pointed teeth, as he recognized the person before him; sweeping himself into a bow he addressed the woman before him.

"Lady Megara, a pleasure to see you. Such time has passed since our last encounter."

"Yes some time has passed, Kern. And it is Queen Megara now."

"Ah!" He lifted his head smile becoming bigger. "So I see some of our endeavors have, in fact, paid off well."

"Yes they have, but once again I have need of you and yours."

"Oh but of course, my Lady- My _Queen,_" The creature chuckled to himself."You've only to ask and it shall be done." He smiled sweeping back into an elaborate bow. "What mischief might we cause this time for you?"

"No mischief Kern. I need to follow a hunch."

"A hunch?"

"Yes, nothing more than a though, but it's always best to investigate such things when they turn up."

"But of course. What do you need of us?"

"No, just you, Kern, just you for now will do. I need you to follow someone, no matter where they may go, I need you to keep an eye on them and report back to me all of their doings. Who they meet, what they do, what they see, so on; anything and everything, I want to know it all."

"Yes, my Queen, of course. Who is this person? An enemy of ours perhaps?"

"No, at least, I'm hoping not."

"Oh?"

"I need you to follow my son. No," she said seeing the slight confusion beginning to seep into those dark eyes. "Not Diomed, my other son."

She watched as Kern's expression changed as his mind processed what she was telling him. When the final thought came to him, he looked back at her eyes narrowed.

"Your… you don't mean."

"Yes, I need you to follow Jarth, I need you to follow the Goblin King."

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><p>BUM BUM BUHHHHHHHH!<p>

So I realized as I was writing this that it probably should have gone with the prior chapter but meh who cares right? Still got here right?

Well some stuff is really getting underway! We've got more back story and some sneaky spies about to do some creepin'!

Oh there's more stuff to come!

Thanks for reading and please take a second to review!

Thanks guys!


	8. Curiouser and Curiouser

Well my goodness it's been a minute hasn't it! I'm back and with a new chapter!

This one was a little harder to get off ground than the other chapters, but once I figured out a few things everything sort of fell into place like it usually tends to do. :)

Hope you guys enjoy!

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><p>Chapter 8: Curiouser and Curiouser<p>

Some time had passed since that fateful flight to the Above, and Derrick could tell almost instantly when he had returned, something was definitely different about his cousin. Jareth would usually allow for himself to be distracted when he lost interest in what was taking place at the present. It was a trait that many of those who chose to stay within the Goblin Castle knew and silently accepted in order to avoid one of his other less savory traits.

Jareth had the tendency for rash behavior; Derrick knew this and so did others who attended the court. Depending on his mood, he would switch from being relatively pleasant to decidedly unpleasant in the bat of an eye. Those most often at the brunt of his "outbursts" as some had taken to calling them were the same people who hovered around him who he could not stand. Jareth had little patience, if any for those whose only goal was to use social graces as well as other assets to cunningly move their way up the social ladder. These were the people he most often passively verbally offended or flat out ignored when formal events were called for at the Goblin Castle. Derrick knew these things and had even made sport of trying to guess who Jareth would flat out reject at a night of feasting or entertainment. However his cousin's rashness did have its less than amusing qualities, Nanny would attest to that, and in a way Derrick couldn't blame her. Jareth had a tendency to be flown by the emotion he was feeling at the time, the most common of these being his anger, so if a poor hopeful social climber did approach him, say at a stately dinner, with intents on wooing the young king into her favor, she would more than likely leave in tears from the disdainful words that would find their way over Jareth's tongue and pass his lips. But verbal assaults weren't his only vice. Derrick had once followed Jareth into an obscure location of the Labyrinth before during one of his more troubling rages, and the sheer ability for destruction that his cousin possessed worried him. Yes, Jareth had a temper, and if you were wise you would avoid it as much as possible.

But it was not his temper that had Derrick's mind puzzling as of late. No, it was more of Jareth's interest in literally flying off somewhere. Derrick had remembered the morning Nanny had come in a woke him (rather loudly he might add) out of his sleep, and upon his complaining had informed him that Jareth would be taking a flight about to clear his mind. A simple flight about had turned into an entire day spent in the Aboveground and Derrick positively confused by his cousins' distracted nature upon his return.

Jareth had not disclosed where he had gone or what he had done, but his behavior had changed. Whenever a moment of free time showed itself Jareth was gone in an instant, sweeping himself up into his owl form and taking flight off to that mysterious someplace. And when he wasn't literally flying off, he spent his moments engrossed in one of his crystal orbs, always turning it and clouding it over whenever Derrick managed to get close enough to possible glance at the images within. The curiosity was killing Derrick, the wanting to know what could possibly be so engrossing, so distracting, so delightful that it could hold the attention of his ever moving, ever active, rash cousin.

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><p>Jareth got a simple sort of joy out of aggravating his cousin, watching him try to catch a glimpse of what he found so amusing, so distracting. Yes, he took a simple pleasure from his cousin's frustrated curiosity. The only thing he found more amusing, was the contents within the small orb that now danced merrily about his fingers as he reclined in the mountain of pillows on his bed.<p>

The happy little orb skipped around on his fingers, catching the light flooding in from the windows and splashing various merry shards on the wall as it went. The dancing shards of light on the wall reflected his mood rather well. He was, for lack of a more articulate word, happy. Maybe even content. He stopped the dancing orb, bringing it closer to his face, turning it just so the images inside began to take shape, cloudy and milky at first until the fog began to clear and brought forth the image of a young girl with thick raven hair and enchanting grey eyes. He could tell by her clothes she must have been at school, but her smile and her laughter suggested that classes were in recess at the moment. Her laugh bubbled out of the orb in his hand and filled his room, such an interesting sound it was, real, genuine laughter. So different from the simpering giggles or twittering laughs of the women who attended court, was this laugh, it was, refreshing.

The image of the girl now changed, now she was spinning around as a friend called her name, just before he threw her over his shoulder and began spinning her in circles, her peals of laughter growing with each turn. The brown haired boy that had hold of her was the same one that had spotted him that first day he had seen the girl, and had seemed to always notice him in his continuing visits. He found it almost as intriguing as the girl he watched, almost, but it was the primary reason he had not tried to get any closer. No, he had resigned himself to watching her from the tree line; humans were curious creatures, they could accept the simple happenstance of seeing a bird from a distance but being able to pick out specific details about a bird enabled them to recognize it, and nothing drew more suspicion from curious beings than the same thing appearing over and over again near them.

A thought occurred to the young king at the moment. If being seen, if being recognized was the problem then there was also a solution for that, wasn't there? He was Fae after all was he not! For that matter he was the Goblin King! Why should he be the one to bow out or change his movements for a mortal? If he wanted to get closer to the girl, then that was exactly what he was going to do.

In an instant Jareth had enveloped himself with magic, taking on his owl form as he had many times before in his recent journeys Above. Before he knew it he found himself at the edge of the woods that backed the school, and almost immediately spotted the girl he was looking for. Gliding behind a tree Jareth easily switched back to his Fae form, before conjuring a glamour that made him invisible to all accept his own kind. Hidden from sight Jareth proudly sauntered over to where the girl stood with her friends.

What he had taken for a recess of classes he soon realized was not the case, merely a class session that had been moved outside because of the weather. The class was sitting in little clusters on the grass doing their work while the teacher supervised their progress. The girl he spotted easily enough, she was sitting surrounded by her friends laughing and talking as they attempted to complete their work, completely oblivious to the eyes that watched them.

His invisibility making him bold Jareth placed himself on the grass next to the girl he'd been watch now for some time. Watching her through the crystal orbs had clearly not done her enough justice. The girl called Alice, the girl who dared question the fictional counter part of the Goblin King in a book he once though lost to humans sat near him, unaware, her presence was enrapturing him even more. The wind picked up, a slow breeze working its way across the lawn rustling papers as it went, tussling Alice's hair enough to stir up possibly the most interesting scent Jareth had ever caught before. Lavender and roses, and something else, something faint, yet familiar.

The girl named Alice began to lean back, preparing to simply fall back onto the lawn, causing Jareth to shift to the side and move out of her way. Propping herself up on her elbows the girl looked around confusedly for a moment, her eyes set in his direction. He watched as the confusion and the curiosity mixed and played out in her eyes, there was no way she could tell that he was there but at the same time he couldn't help but wonder why she seemed so intent on attempting to search for something she clearly couldn't see. But his amusement at her curiosity quickly changed to something else as he took in the full color of her eyes, the soft gray dappled with periwinkle that was so faint he wouldn't have even noticed it if it weren't for the fact that he was leaning in so close now. He became so trapped in those eyes that he almost lost where he was and what was going on about him.

One of the boys that the girl named Alice was sitting near called her attention away from his direction, distracting her with his jabbering. Jareth didn't care much for this. He wanted her attention back, though obviously it wasn't as genuine as if she were actually paying attention to him, but still he wanted it back. A bell tolled somewhere releasing the class before the teacher could, the boy was now dragging her excitedly off the grass and back towards the building. Not one to be denied what he wanted Jareth stood and followed the group into the building. He followed them as they walked through the crowded halls of the school, nagivating through the throng of students making their way to their lockers and out of the building or to after school activities, until they ducked into a side room in a back hallway.

The room was dimly lit, pictures hung from various positions on the walls. The boy pulled her off to a corner and began riffling through a folder.

"I took me a few tries, but I finally got it just right." The boy beckoned the girl named Alice closer as he finally removed what he was looking for from his folder. Jareth causally sauntered over to where they stood to catch a glance at what they were looking at.

"Wow Vincent! It's beautiful! It looks just like the one of my mom."

"You really like it? I'm glad, I mean, you're a great model but I'm glad it turned out as nicely it did. Do you really like it?"

"Yes, I love it! I can't wait to show it to Gigi!" the girl named Alice beamed as she held her copy of the image.

Jareth looked down at the image as the girl named Alice hugged the one called Vincent. The image was a black and white portrait photo of the girl. She was leaning forward on her elbows, the rest of her not visible in the image; her hands framing her face just so, fingers graceful, as her hair cascaded down around her taking up the majority of the space left in image before fading into the black edges create by the space behind her. Her eyes, striking, were staring straight at the viewer holding them trapped in a gaze that made one expect the portrait to take a breath at any moment. He had to admit it was rather stunning and the boy named Vincent had done a very well, very well indeed.

When he looked back up he saw the girl named Alice and the boy named Vincent joining the rest of the group as they left the room chatter about the copy of the image that she held, the one who remained was, he noticed, the same one who had spotted him on the first day. The boy was staring straight at him, though Jareth knew this was impossible he found it still rather unsettling. The boy stood in the doorway, appearing to sniff the air for something, whatever it may have been he seemed to have found it when his eyes became hooded and dark and what sounded like a low growl began to rumble out of his throat.

"Willis come on! I want to get home so I can show this to Gigi!"

"Coming." The boy now known as Willis called over his shoulder to the girl called Alice. Turning back to the room, he passed a last glance over the room. "I don't know who you are, where you come from or what your intentions are but you're not welcome here."

Jareth watched as the boy named Willis turned and took his leave, completely taken aback at what had just taken place. Walking out into the hallway he watched as the boy named Willis caught up with the girl named Alice and mussing her hair playfully as they joined their companions.

"My dear, dear Alice, how more intriguing you become with every passing moment."

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><p>Out of a shadowy corner of the photography room stepped a lone figure who, having over heard everything, wore a grin of intrigue and affirmation. Walking over to the table Kern picked up the photo that the young Goblin King had been looking over just a brief moment before. The girl in it looked gorgeous, this he could admit, this was something he was sure of. It was more than obvious that the Goblin King had acquired a sort of fascination for the girl, a fascination that could possibly turn into obsession if the situation continued. The only other thing that Kern was certain of was that his lady would like to know of this development as soon as possible.<p>

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><p>As she had many days before, Queen Megara sat in her quarters, before her vanity scrutinizing the face that gazed back at her. Slender fingers ran across smooth, creaseless skin, pausing to tuck a loose lock of pristinely placed hair behind her hair. Yes, everything was in place everything was perfect, just as it should be. As she stood to make her way to the hidden room of mirrors and continue her morning routine, a shadow passed in front of her mirror catching her attention. Turning she saw the shadows begin to leach out of the corners of the room and from under the furniture, blending together, swirling into a tight funnel that with a pop formed the familiar figure of the minion she had sent out sometime ago.<p>

"My lady." The figure smiled sweeping its lanky form into a deep bow.

"Kern, you've managed to find your way home. When I didn't hear from you I was beginning to this you'd been discovered."

"Oh my Queen, never! I'm hurt. To think you would question my skills simply because I was being thorough. Really it hurts me."

"Oh come now Kern, cease your dramatics. It seems as though you've returned empty handed however, is my son's life really that uneventful?" Megara sighed as she moved away from Kern to a high back chair.

"Oh, my Queen, I've returned with quite an interesting tale to say the least."

"Interesting, how so?"

"It would seem that your young king has been rather busy as of late. I will admit that following him throughout his courtly duties was rather less than amusing. Dull to be precise. I was beginning to think that I would have to return to you with the less that interesting story of my travels." Kern sighed dramatically as he made his way behind Megara's chair, leaning over the back of it bringing his face close to hers so she could clearly see his feigned concern.

"Luckily I was saved by some interesting developments that took place Above. It would seem that your son Goblin King has become quite infatuated with a young mortal female that resides above."

"A mortal girl?" Megara sniffed. "Well I can't say that I'm surprised. He is Fae after all, his woman chasing tendencies are in his blood. But a mortal girl? I would think that he would have better tastes that to pursue a mortal."

"Quite so, and you see I would agree with you whole heartedly if it weren't for the fact that I had followed your son so closely, my Queen. I've watched him hover over, wooing and stealing the attention of his own kind, drawing them close for his amusement and going about his way when he is no longer amused. He is a true Fae in that regards, but this mortal girl is different. He has not approached her yet but seems to have contented himself to watching her from a distance, or if he desires to venture closer he does so cloaked in invisibility. He seems to have a special interest in this girl."

Queen Megara paused for a moment, taking in all she'd heard, before dismissing it with a wave of her hand. "Let the fool do as he pleases. If he wishes to waste his time on some plain, frail mortal girl then he can. I care not for his ridiculous actions."

"But, my Queen, this girl is no plain girl, I've seen her myself." Leaning back over the chair, Kern extended his hand in front of his queen. A small cloud of dark mists began swirling together, slowly mingling and shifting; the picture he had taken from the photography room appeared hovering above his hand.

With so many other things on her mind at the moment Megara could honestly say that she didn't care what the mortal wretch looked like, whether she really was plain or beautiful, she had too much to worry about. A sideways glance however, changed everything. Megara's eyes grew large and color began to drain from her face as her lungs flooded with air that was sucked in through tightly pinched lips. Snatching the picture from Kern she found herself standing in front of the chair, her hands, no her whole body shaking.

"This- this isn't- it's not possible…" came barely audible words from lips of the Queen of Lunarwood. Kern, rather lost at this point began to move from behind the chair to his lady's side.

"My Queen?" the shadow man began cautiously. But Megara heard none of it. She was now fleeing the main room, heading straight to the hidden room of mirrors, leaving Kern were he stood.

Entering the room she looked around frantically until her eyes settled on the two mirrors she was looking for. Picking up the first she saw the two figures within slowly come into focus, a man and woman, both staring back at her with fury filled eyes; the kind of fury that only parents stolen away from their child could understand. The father's grey eyes were set on her, the woman in his arms pushed her mane of raven black hair out of her almonds and set her angry gaze on the woman before her.

Megara turned her attention to the second mirror, smaller than the first, a simple round thing that hung next to the prior. Picking up the second smaller mirror Megara attempted to call the figure within forward as she had just moments before. The image refused to become clear immediately, mist and shadows swirled within the contents of the mirror continuing to hide that figure within. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting the image finally began to clear, revealing the face of the person behind the glass. Megara's breath caught in her throat as it constricted, just before the most horrendous shriek ripped loose from her mouth, if not her very soul.

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><p>And that is all for chapter 8 guys!<p>

Oh noes not another cliffhanger!

Stuff's getting interesting ladies and gents!

The Neon-Panda: I pardon your french! Yeah I kind of like Kern, he has many shenanigans ahead, and yeah stuff's going down!


	9. Protection

Oh my goodness, another post so close together! It must be a miracle! Or the simple fact that I seem to be on a creative spurt at just the moment. Anywho another chapter for you fair readers, hope you guys enjoy it! I know I had fun writing it! :)

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><p>Chapter Nine: Protection<p>

Elma had come to work under the rule of Queen Megara as many had before her. She was born into her servitude, forced to forgo her childhood, learning how best to please the one she called queen so that she may live to see additional sunrises. She was a quiet girl, keeping to herself and making sure she stayed out of the way; many took her silence as stupidity when in truth she was extraordinarily brilliant. Sometimes too much so for one of her station; a lesson she discovered early, silence was key to survival. She saw many fall before her eyes at the hands of Queen Megara, whether they were in her way or simply being made an example of, she knew death would await if she ever became more than the quiet servant girl who did what she was told.

Elma's silence was what had first brought Queen Megara's attention upon her. Her parents dead and gone, both at their own times examples of the queen's wrath, she had continued her service without uttering much more than what was necessary. Without much of a rhyme or reason in Elma's eyes the queen brought her into her select group of maids and serving girls, giving her express errands, running notes to important individuals or merely taking care of items around her room. For the sake of survival Elma simply fell into the routine that was laid out for her, doing as she was told and keeping out of sight and out of the way when she wasn't needed.

Years had passed and Elma had grown into a young woman. Her position had remained the same, never was she far from the queen's sight. It was one day however when she began to notice a change. It took place as it usually did, the queen had found a target that seemed to be hindering her progression forward and she was exploring options to be rid of it. This one, however, seemed different from the rest. The queen had become obsessed with a mortal woman, her image constantly in one of her looking glasses, mumblings of some sort of power ever on her lips. Elma simply shook her head when she first noticed, feeling horrible for the woman, she was sure that the mortal woman had never done anything to warrant the queen's crosshairs to be sighted on her. The woman was simply another soul that the queen would destroy in order to get what she wanted, Elma knew this, she had accepted facts like this long ago.

But the more the queen obsessed over this woman the more Elma began to learn about her and her concern began to grow. The woman was young but not young enough to not have started a family. She was married and had a young child, a sweet looking little girl. The queen's focus on the woman became so intense that Elma knew it was only a matter of time until something happened, and her deepest wish was that, if something were to happen, if something must happen, that nothing would happen to the child.

Then the fateful night came.

The queen had dismissed all of her serving girls except for Elma, making her assist with her dressings and preparations for a large event Above. It was to be a large party, a ball Elma believed, she didn't know the specifics, all that was certain was that the High King and Queen would be present and that Queen Megara had apparently been invited. Elma had thought nothing of that night's preparations, falling into her usual routine as she had many times before. However, Queen Megara had stepped into her private study for a moment; sneaking a glance Elma watched as her queen retrieved two small mirrors and a strange looking vessel from her desk, secreting it away in a small ornate bag she'd planned to carry that night. Just as Elma went to take a step back to return to her duties, the queen looked up, spotting her. Panic filled her body. Death, she was sure of it, was an instant away. She could almost feel its cold fingers working their way around her ankles, readying to drag her to the thereafter once given the nod. The queen smiled slyly, floating from behind her desk, back into the main room of her quarters, closing the door behind her.

"I'm glad you are so curious my dear. I have a special task for you tonight." Her smile was dangerous and the hand that rested on Elma's shoulder made her nervous. As they prepared to leave for the festivities that night, the queen gave her very strict instructions.

"You will accompany me tonight as you always do. You shall stay out of sight and not cause any problems or raise any suspicions. There will come a moment when I need you. At that express time I will leave the festivities, and you shall accompany me to a certain task. I will only have time to start things into motion, you will finish what I have begun. Once the time has come I will tell you more. If you whisper a word of any of this to anyone tonight, I will kill you. Do you understand?"

Elma had mutely nodded, panic still raging through her body. The entire night she stood in the shadows and waited. No one at the party noticed her, why would they, she was merely one of many servants in attendance, there to solely serve their masters and nothing else. She was beginning to believe that the fateful moment might never take place. Then the queen excused herself for a moment from the festivities, silently beckoning the serving girl over as she left. The moment they were together and out of sight of the others, the queen spirited them away. When Elma opened her eyes again all she saw before her at first was white. Snow lay everywhere, against the ebony darkness of the night, looked strikingly beautiful. They stood on a snow bank, surrounded by a dark forest, the sleeping trees silent witnesses to their presence.

It took Elma a moment to notice the road off to the queen's right. Still hidden in the shadow of the sleeping trees the queen stepped closer to the road, searching for something in the distance. Extending her hand towards Elma, the silent command came to turn over the bag that she had given the girl at the beginning of the night. Reluctantly Elma released the bag from her hands, watching as the queen removed from it the vessel she had seen earlier. Unstopping the bottle the queen poured its contents, inky and syrupy, on the ground, just as lights flashed around a corner not far from where they stood.

The bottle's contents immediately jumped to life, slithering down the hillside and onto the road, making it slick just as a vehicle rounded the last turn. Elma stifled a gasp as she watched the metal carriage swerve and lose control, careening off the road, before skidding and colliding with a tree a short distance from where she and the queen now stood. The strange contents of the bottle returned to their home within the vessel as the queen hastily replaced the stopper. Without so much as a word the queen descended on the wreckage hovering over the mangled steel like a predator over its fresh kill. Elma wasn't sure when she had descended the hill, but she found herself near the front of the wreck, close enough to see the two figures in the front. The man to her right was kicking at the door in an attempt to make the bent and warped metal shift enough to grant him leave of the vehicle; the woman in front of her slowly lifting her head off the dashboard, looking dazed and uncertain. The woman's eyes locked with Elma's for a moment, sending shivers down her spine, her pleading eyes searching for some sort of aid in Elma's. She was the woman from the mirrors. The pleading turned to terror as her eyes left Elma's face and took in the woman who now stood behind the serving girl.

Queen Megara stood tall and imposing behind Elma, her hand once again in the bag she had brought with them tonight. The woman within the car began screaming at the queen as she swept around the side of the wreckage. The queen tried the door once, finding the handle unyielding, she wrenched the door open with magic. Elma could now clearly hear the woman's cries, sounds she knew would stay with her for the rest of her life.

"Megara! Stay away from me you witch! Leave my family alone!" But the queen heard none of it as she produced one of the mirrors from her bag. She held the small looking glass up in front of her directing it at the woman still trapped in the mangled metal; her husband pulled her into his arms, in an attempt to shield them both, but to no avail. Elma watched as a bright flash of light enveloped the vehicle and the people within, the light becoming so intense she had to shield her own eyes.

When the light finally faded, Elma looked back to see the couple lying lifeless in their seats and Queen Megara looking extremely pleased with herself as she viewed the new contents of the looking glass. As if snapped out of a day dream, Queen Megara glanced about her surroundings before quickly shoving the mirror back into her bag. Elma stood, eyes fused on the face of the woman who now lay unmoving and gone, and could feel the tears pricking at the corners of her eyes, threatening to fall for this woman she didn't even know. Her attention was snatched away from the woman as the queen took hold of her wrist and dragged her around to the side of the wreckage.

"Look you, there isn't much time. I must return before I am discovered missing." The queen rummaged through the bag and thrust the other mirror into Elma's hands. "Your task is simple. That looking glass you hold will do most of the work. All you have to do is hold it up in front of the one who you intend to place within." It was then Elma turned and saw the unconscious child in the back of the car, still strapped into her seat. It was as though a ten ton weight had been placed in her hands, she couldn't possibly expect her to do this to a child, could she?

"You will complete this task. When you do the mirror will return itself to me. If you do not complete this task you will pay for your foolishness with your own life. Am I understood?" the grip on her wrist tightened, emphasizing the queen's words even more, until she could barely stand it and nodded her head vigorously if only to make the pain cease. Seeing her message had gotten across the queen released the serving girl, took a step back from the wreckage and disappeared from sight.

Elma stood, dumb, for a moment; the mirror burning her hands as the knowledge of what she was expected to do snaked its way deeper into her mind and heart. Her thoughts immediately turned to smashing the mirror, but quickly realized that this would only exacerbate the situation. Placing the mirror within a pocket on her dress Elma fought with the door until it finally yielded to her. Gingerly lifting the child out of her seat, she quickly checked her over, her attention zeroing in on a wound on the child's chest. The wound didn't appear too deep or severe, but she bundled the girl in one of blankets she found near her to, if for nothing else, keep the chill away from the child. With the child tucked away in the coverings, Elma took her in her arms, and did the only thing she could think of.

She ran.

The child secure in her arms she ran. From the wreckage, from cruel expectations of the queen, from the woman in the mirror, from her own fears, Elma ran deep into the dark night. The stars kept a steady paced with her as the dark sleeping trees around her whizzed by, the only sounds her panicked breaths and the crunching of the snow beneath her feet. She knew not where she was going or what she would do once there, all she knew was to run. So she did.

She did until she noticed her sounds weren't the only ones in the forest any longer. Skidding to an abrupt stop, in an attempt to catch her breath and gather herself, she saw shadows shift just beyond her line of sight. Shadows that moved swiftly and deftly between the trees, seemingly floating over the snow covered ground. Fear gripped her heart. Where they the shadows that had caused the wreck, sent by the queen to discover her progress? Elma clutched the child even closer to her as the shadows began to move closer and take a clearer shape.

Wolves. All of them wolves; teeth bared, eyes red with fury, hair bristled as they slowly stalked forward. There was no escaping the way she came, Elma pivoted, turning to make her escape into the forest behind her. As she did she found herself cut off by more wolves. Surrounded, Elma felt the cold air sting her lungs as she stepped back from the edge of the ever shrinking circle of wolves, their snarls and growls growing louder with every passing moment. A lone figure stepped out of the shadows and walked towards the circle, towards Elma. He passed by the perimeter of wolves as if simply walking through a gate; he stood in front of Elma, tall and imposing, the night clouding his features, as he began to reach for the child in her arms.

"No!" Elma screamed, turning the child in her arms away, scrambling backwards, only to be pushed back to the center of the circle by the increased volume of the snarls and yips behind her.

"Give me the child." The voice that came to her was clear and demanding, but the threatening tone was not lost on her.

"I said no!" Bravado began to course through her veins, she wasn't simply going to let go of the babe, not now. "The child is mine. The queen may not have her! I care not was she does to me, but the child is mine! You'll not have her!"

The man before her simply stood for a moment, saying nothing. He did not continue his advance nor did he or the wolves retreat, but their sounds began to die, fading to a strange eerie silence. The silence was almost deafening, until the man finally spoke again.

"We are not here to harm the child, but to protect her. The child's mother was my dearest friend, as well was her father. We were watching when the wreck occurred, when we finally came upon it they were dead and the child gone. From what you say you are not responsible, if that is the case than who? Who did this?"

Elma opened her mouth to speak, then hesitated, remembering the scene that she'd left behind. If this was in fact a trap sent by the queen to see if she'd completed her deed, revealing the truth would surely mean sacrificing her own life; but in some strange way, death and the fear it had held over her, meant next to nothing now.

"I am young. Some have called me dumb or simple because of my silence. I lost my family when I was young, and had long ago given up hope of ever having one myself. Of ever being held by one who loves me, of holding one I'd give anything to protect. Until tonight, until I came upon her." She looked down at the face of the sleeping child in her arms. Courage blossomed in her chest as the child nestled closer, still unaware of what was going on around her, seeking warmth as she dreamt. "My lady, the Queen Megara; though I have no proof she is the perpetrator. She wished me to dispose of the child in her stead, but… I…"

The man before her moved in closer, until he was barely even a foot away from Elma, his dark eyes searching hers for any hint of falseness or deception, and she stood her ground, unwavering, eyes looked with his. Finding none his demeanor changed, as did the wolves around him, calming themselves until she almost forgot they were even there.

"In the Above there are those who respond to emergencies like the wreck you left behind. They have been notified and will be here shortly." He held out his arms, patiently waiting for Elma to move. Looking to the child in her arms once more, she bundled her tighter, tucking her face away from the cold and the elements before gently placing her in the arms of the man before her. "I thank you for what you've done, I promise you, we shall keep her safe, until she is found. I promise you that."

Elma nodded as she watched the man cradle the small child in his arms, safe. Reaching inside of her pocket she removed the small looking glass the queen had placed in her hands. _All you have to do is hold it up in front of the one who you intend to place within._

Elma stepped forward, placing a gentle kiss on the forehead of the babe. "Rest easy little one, you're safe now, the Beldam cannot harm you."

Stepping back Elma squared her shoulders, readying herself for what she must do.

"The queen is a ruthless woman, she may return for the child once she's noticed what I've done. I trust though, that you will continue to guard her as you did this night." The man simply nodded his agreement. A sad smile played across her lips as fresh snowflakes silently began gliding down all around her. Taking a deep breath, Elma lifted the mirror to her face, making eye contact with her own reflection. The wind picked up whipping the flakes around as a bright light began to flood out of the mirror, enveloping her, growing brighter until with one last burst of light the small looking glass fell into snow on the ground where Elma once stood. The small mirror began to glow, as second later, shooting up and off into the sky and out of sight. The lone man stood watching as the glow faded from the sky; turning attention to the child in his arms, the smile that came across his face was a sad one, remembering the girl's parents. Remembering the promise he had once made to them, and how it was so similar to the one he'd made just now, with the dark haired servant girl. The wolves that now gathered around him fell in step behind him as he moved throughout the woods, child in arms. He came to a large slumbering tree not too far from the accident, far enough away to not be discovered by those who meant harm. Checking that the child's bundling was secure he laid her gently against the base of the tree, amidst the large roots to shelter her from the wind. Straightening up he changed his form, and where a tall man once stood now stood a large black wolf. He stepped forward, encircling the child using the warmth of his body to keep her safe. The child turned, burying her face in his thick fur while her small fingers knotted themselves in a tuft near his side.

He lay there with the child, while the others kept watch, alert to all. He lay there until he caught a familiar scent and heard the footsteps approaching; separating himself from the child he stretched before sitting patiently in front of her, waiting until the red hair woman came into view, followed by two others. He locked eyes with her, slowly nodding to her before the woman rushed forward and claimed the child in her arms. Nodding back she thanked him under her breath, before standing and hurrying off to the sirens and commotion in the distance. He watched them fade from sight, knowing the child was safe now and would be cared for, he turned and led his kind into the deep silent woods, the promise he made echoing in his ears. Protect and watch over the child, as he had promised the mother, the father, and now the servant girl; protect and watch over the child he would.

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><p>Queen Megara sat slumped over in her chair, the small mirror resting in her lap her head in her hands; the only light came from behind, the entrance to the room of mirrors having been left open in her haste.<p>

How? _HOW? _How could this have happened? The face of the young servant girl stared back at her confident, defiant, sure of herself and of her decision. When she had returned from the gala that night she'd found the mirror where it should be and placed it next to the first. Whenever she had gone to look upon the figure within the looking glass they had turned away. She had been satisfied with simply catching sight of the dark hair, the mother having been her initial target, she'd found it more pleasing to watch her reaction in her mirror as oppose to the child's.

Everything had gone so wrong. Thanks to the whim of a foolish servant girl the child had lived; a tiny child had managed to escape her. The photo Kern had brought to her stared up at her from the floor, mocking her; those grey eyes stared back at her, those lips shifting into a smug grin, taunting her. A small insignificant child had escaped a powerful queen.

A maelstrom of anger began building in Megara's stomach. Rage pulsed through her veins, its venom seeping into every nook, every extremity; bleeding into her very soul, her body began to shake with fury, as a roar of disgust and pure ire tore loose from her mouth.

"KERN!" bellowed Megara as she exploded out of the mirror room, clearly on the war path.

"Yes my queen?" the shadow man bled out from the darkened side of the room, the sun having set while the queen had sat stewing.

"This girl," she spat waving the photograph. "You know where she is, correct?"

"Yes…" he answered, uncertain.

"I want you to find this, this, brat! And bring her to me!"

"Certainly your majesty, but what of your search for the Tamer?"

"Forget the Tamer! Damn the Tamer! I want that girl!" the queen raged. In her fit her hair had begun to loosen from its clasps giving the infuriated woman a purely mad look about her. "That little bitch thinks she can out smart me?" she hissed under her breath. Concentrating on her right hand, small sparks began to form, clustering together until, in a brief explosion of light and color the vessel from her desk sat in her hand. Tearing the stopper out of the next she splashed a half circle of the inky contents around her.

"Take your kind and find her, Kern! Bring her to me! Drag her back by her hair, kicking and screaming if you have to but bring her to me! I'll destroy her myself! As I should have done, years ago! I'll make the wretch pay!"

Kern smiled as he watched the splatter on the floor begin to move and twist as the queen raged on; his kin growing and shaping themselves it their various forms, none of them were able to take on as complex and complete of a shape as he, but it had been quite some time since he had seen this many of them released from their prison in the vessel. A dark chuckle trickled pass his lips as the various shadow beings began surging towards him, circling around him waiting for his next move.

"As you wish, my queen." His dark grin grew larger as he dipped into one of his signature bows. Rising he trust his hand out, a nearby window flow open, the sound of its panes clattering against the outside of the castle were quickly muffled by the sound of the dark shadows rising and rushing out of the window into the night. Surging out and up, heading straight to their target in the Above, to carry out the queen's sole command, to bring back the girl.

Standing, alone now, in the center of her room Megara took one last look at the photograph before it exploded into flames in her hand.

"You will be mine you little witch!"

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><p>And so the plot, like burnt gravy, thickens!<p>

All the emotions this chapter! All the emotions!

Please review guys! It makes me super happy when you do!


	10. Interesting Happenings

_Hello everyone! It's been a minute hasn't it! But fear not I'm here with a new chapter!_

_Thanks to all of those who have been adding me to their alerts and who have been commenting!  
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_There are actually so many of you since the last post there's too many to name! I want to thank you all for reading and commenting! It's awesome and it really makes my day! :)  
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_Enjoy!  
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><p>Chapter 10: Interesting Happenings<p>

Jareth had spent the rest of the afternoon following the girl named Alice and her companions. He'd watched as they had gone about the town, stopping for snacks at one small store, sitting around and chatting in another. He'd followed them to the lawn of one of her companions where they sat, splayed and lounging, relaxed and conversing about some upcoming school event. Most of the conversations were lost on Jareth however because he was to intent on watching the girl named Alice. The most intriguing thing he'd learned today was how full of mischief her eyes were. It would suddenly flash through those grey eyes a brief moment before she acted on it, whether it was stealing the last snack from the one named Willis or tackling the one named Vincent.

He now stood on the curb outside of her house, leisurely observing as the one named Willis helped her dismount from his motorcycle.

"You know, you didn't know really answer my question earlier."

"Question? What question?" Alice asked as Willis gently tipped her head back to get a better view of the helmet's clasp.

"The one where I technically asked you if you wanted to go to the dance, you know, the one that's happening about a week and a half from now?"

"You were serious?" Her head jerked back up right.

"Yes." A grunt of disapproval slipped out as his fingers lost hold of the clasp. Tipping her head back once more he continued. "I was serious. I mean if you didn't want to go you could have just said so."

"I thought you were teasing." Alice pulled off the helmet staring down at her distorted reflection avoiding eye contact with the boy in front of her. Somewhere near them a streetlight flickered on, its low hum joining the sounds of the nighttime critters slowly coming out as the sun set off in the distance behind the house. "It's hard to tell sometimes."

"Fair enough." Willis placed his hand on the helmet, making her look up at him. "I was serious, and I'm willing to take you, but you have to want to go first. At least say you'll think about it."

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes I'll go! I mean why not? I haven't really been to any school stuff, so why not right?"

"Yeah, why not?" Willis chuckled, before he could say anything else he was interrupted by the sound of the screen door rattling against the side of the house, the culprit, Georgie, standing in the doorway.

"Alice! Mom said come on it's time for dinner! Hi Willis!"

"Hi Georgie!" he called back before turning back to Alice. "Same time tomorrow?"

"Yep! Same bat time, same bat channel!" Alice smiled before running up the walkway and bounding up the stairs. Turning she waved, now being joined at the door by Gigi, watching as the boy mounted his bike, secured his helmet, turned on the lights and revved the engine before turning about and speeding off into the night towards his home.

Jareth mounted the stairs, his gaze still fixed on the girl named Alice as she waited until she could no longer hear the sound of the engine before making her way inside. Jareth stepped forward, ready to continue his secret observance, when a sudden wave of ill feeling came over him. Curious he extended his hand forward, gingerly resting his fingers against the façade of the house only to remove them quickly.

Iron. Cast iron to be exact he discovered, as he peaked through the windows and saw the offending ornamentations on either side of the door; shaped like flowers and curved vines one had pegs below it for holding keys. Their placement wasn't accidental either, he surmised, as he stepped off the porch and rounded the side of the house, his meandering steps taking him to the back yard. He observed the family from a distance, watching as they sat down for dinner, laughed, ate and shared their days. As they finished and cleared the table, as they split off, the adults cleaning the kitchen while the children went off with their school bags. A light on the second floor flickered on catching Jareth's attention. Ascending to the second story he discovered the window was to Alice's room. The girl wandered around her room aimlessly for a moment before settling in on her studies. Trying to get closer Jareth felt the same wave of uneasiness from earlier, shifting his position at the window he noticed a decorative cast iron pair of scissors. From what he had seen down stairs he could only guess that there was one on the other side of the window as well; a disgruntled look played out on the Goblin King's face, there was no doubting it now, someone in the house knew of Fae and their workings, or at least how best to keep them away.

Backing away from the window he groused realizing that once again he was being forced to watch the girl named Alice from a distance. But his grumblings subsided as he watched her settle into her desk to work, playing music as she studied. And as he had earlier that day he watched her, watched her as she finished her school work and readied for tomorrow, as she left the room only to return in what he guessed where her sleeping clothes for the night, as the small one named Georgie exploded into her room demanding a story before bed, as she read her voice flocculating for each character, as she sent the one named Georgie off to bed, and turned in for the night herself. Just before she turned off the lamp near her bed, Jareth saw her retrieve from the back of a book photos, old and slightly crinkled. She kissed them, returning them back to their hiding place whispered her prayers for the night before extinguishing the light and sending herself off to dreamland.

"Goodnight my Alice, may your dreams be pleasant ones." Jareth smiled, as he left his vigil for the first time that day. Making himself visible Jareth quickly changed in his owl form and flew off into the night, unawares that he himself had been watched also, as a lone wolf settled into his usual spot for his nightly ritual of watching the girl he'd promised to protect. Looking up at the window of the girl's room the wolf spotted the red haired woman, and as they had many nights before, both nodded their recognition of each other before she drew the curtains and the day ended.

* * *

><p>When they finally came across the house, Kern and the shadow creatures under his control had been searching for quite some time. Following the trail of the young Goblin King had not been easy, they had trekked to various points around town before coming to their final destination. Kern now stood, hovering just above the tree line, the dark of the night encompassing him and the creatures around him as he watched the window on the back of the house. The hour being so late, all lights were off within the house, all of those residing within having long ago closed their eyes and drifted off to more pleasant thoughts than the worries of the day. A sinister grin birthed itself on Kern's face as one of the shadow creatures rubbed up against his leg, ready and waiting, eager to proceed with their assignment.<p>

"Alright, you heard her, our lady wants the girl. Alive. Proceed quietly, we need not wake the whole house with our deed." The creatures, now sharing Kern's vicious smile, descended upon the window with an eerie silence. They circled around the window, before the first shadow took the initiative, breaking away from the group it approached the windowsill claws at the ready. Finding the seam between the window and the sill the shadow creature's grin turned almost feral as it began wedging its claws under the seam, ready to pop open the window to steal in after the quarry inside.

Kern watched from his post as the creature struggled with the window, at first the resistance it met seemed reasonable but as it continued to struggle other shadows slipped down to join it. The creatures jumped back snarling at the window, one of the larger ones swooped down, thrusting its large claws at the bottom of the sill began to go to work only to be thrown back, a large spark coming from the window. The seam around the window lit up for a brief moment before disappearing, had he not been watching Kern certainly would have missed it. Descending upon the window himself, he waved away the shadow creatures to inspect the window more. As he floated around the window he caught the sight of something just within the shadow of the interior. Curious, Kern pressed his hand against the exterior wall where he guessed the object to be, only to recoil a moment later.

"Well isn't that just interesting?" Kern looked at his slightly burned hand. Iron, it was the only explanation for a reaction like that. Someone inside knew how to keep things out. Moving back he looked at the dark creatures around him, before turning his attention back to the window. "Well boys, what are you waiting for? Have at it. A far worse fate then a few burns by iron awaits us if we return to our lady without the girl." Some of the shadows whined and circled about his feet as they took in his words. They knew it was true, the burn of the iron was a small thing compared to the wrath of the queen.

As the shadows set back to circling the window a faint sound caught Kern's attention; at first he thought it was simply the girl turning about in her bed within, upset maybe by a dream, but as the sound persisted he began to look about to find the source. Looking back over his shoulder, near the tree line he found the source. A wolf melted out of the dark forest floor, its eyes fixed on Kern, teeth bared, eyes red, and a deep resonating growled reverberated from deep within the belly of the beast. Turning around completely Kern descended hovering just out of reach of the creature.

"Be gone pest. No one here challenges your territory. Leave!" he rebuked, but the beast did not move. Kern stared down the beast when something clicked in the back of his mind. Glancing back at the window over his shoulder where the shadows were busying themselves, he turned his attention back to the beast before him and sinister grin forming on his face. "Well, well, isn't this just interesting?"

As he spoke, more wolves began to bleed out from the edge, all at the ready, prepared for the attack. Without much warning one lunged forward, targeting the shadow man, missing just barely as he managed to pull himself out of the way just in time; the wolf recovered quickly turning its sights back on its evasive target. Kern pulled back his arm, ready to attack; dark bolts of energy surging from his finger tips forming a ball in his hand, his sights set on the beast that had advanced first, when a scream pierced that night. The energy dissipated from his hand as his attention snapped back to the window over his shoulder. His first thought being that the shadow creatures had succeeded in their task, but finding the window still intact and them hovering just outside of it he found it not to be the case. The screams persisted, the shadow creatures began to retreat from the window. The light of the room flashed on sending the remaining creatures scattering in various directions; a figure, though fuzzy, appeared in the window for a moment as they made their way to the bedside. Kern immediately made himself scare, pulling back to the height of the tree line, out of sight of the window, the house shrinking as he fled into the night.

As the wind sliced pass his face the unexpected events of the night played over within his mind; first the iron within the window and then the wolves, none of those were mere coincidences. The girl was being guarded, that was for certain, this wasn't going to be some simple smash and grab. To get the girl would take far more effort than he had originally anticipated. The compounding mysteries surrounding this girl were making her far more interesting than he thought her to be. One thing he knew for certain, after this night, she wasn't simply some girl who had escaped the queen, there was something much more, and once he had her within his grasp, he was going to find out just what it was.

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><p><em>Woot! More stuff! More questions! More writing I have to do!<em>

_Thanks again for reading and commenting guys!  
><em>

_FeyFaerie: Thanks for all of your comments! I really enjoyed them, thanks and I hope you continue to enjoy yourself! :)  
><em>


	11. The start of something

_I'm back! I'm here! I swear I'm not dead! Just had a lot on my plate, and hadn't had time to post recently._

_So yeah, well, let's get to it ladies and gentlemen! :)  
><em>

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><p>Chapter 11: The start of something<p>

It didn't take long for Alice to realize she was dreaming. If you could even call it that.

Dreams had color and movement, strange environments, fantasy creatures, sometimes scary creatures; mountain ranges, valleys full of purple grass, small schools of fish flying overhead. Something, anything! But this, this was nothing, quite literally nothing.

Alice sat in, what she guessed was the middle of, a large room. No it was a void. There was nothing there, nothing to tell her where things began or where they ceased, nothing to give an indication of how high or low the ceiling maybe, if there even was a ceiling; the only reason she was remotely certain there was a floor was because she was sitting on it. Stretching out her feet in front of her she found them bare, though she remembered just before fading to sleep that she had socks on, the thought had even occurred that she had forgotten to take them off. She had fallen asleep so fast though, the second her head hit the pillow she was gone.

"Must have kicked them off…" she sighed, absentmindedly rubbing her feet together, muttering to no one in particular. Her hands found the hem of the oversized shirt she was wearing as a night gown, her fingers fiddling, flipping it back and forth, running the pads of her fingers across the stitching. All this she did while glancing about, there was nothing else to do, because, frankly, there was nothing.

Nothing.

Just Alice.

"Just… me…" Alice looked around again, standing. Why? She didn't know, searching for something, perhaps.

"You are not alone young one." Upon turning around Alice found a young woman standing behind her. Her appearance ethereal, hair and robes floating about her, she stood just out of arms reach. Her eyes were locked with Alice's, a soft smile played at her lips. "You've never been alone."

"Who are you?" Alice asked, surprising herself with how calm she sounded, felt.

"Elma."

"Elma?"

"Yes," she chuckled to herself, her smile becoming broader. "It's been sometime since I have heard that name. My name. A long time indeed."

"May I ask why?"

"At another time, perhaps."

"Another time? You mean I'll be here again?"

"Perhaps."

"Perhaps? Where is 'here' anyway?"

"Quite the curious one aren't we?"

"Can you blame me?" The woman named Elma shook her head slowly, every movement she made seemed as if she were performing it under water. "I'm here in a place, I don't know, speaking with a woman I've never met." Alice eyed the woman for a moment.

"I haven't met you, but you know me."

"Yes, young one, I do. I've known of you for quite some time."

"You're dead aren't you?" blunt though it was, Alice wanted to know, needed to know. There was something odd about this woman, about this dream, if that's even what this was anymore.

"Yes I am. My time came some time ago." A sad mood came over her smile as the woman named Elma answered.

"I'm sorry…" Why? _Why do people always apologize when they find out someone has died?_

"Do not be, I am not. Otherwise you would not be here now."

Alice stood for a moment in disbelief. She knew what the woman meant, deep down, somehow she knew, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to know more.

"You were young, such a young thing," the woman named Elma began as she started to advance. "To have someone wish to harm one so young seemed so unfair. I willingly, without hesitation gave what was mine so I could protect you. Not a day has passed that I have not looked back on that night, and wonder what more I could do, hoping that what I had done was enough. Seeing you here, like this, I am beginning to find it was."

"Then why are you here now? And what do you mean by someone harming me? My parents died in a car accident, I almost died in that accident. No one caused it, that's why it's called an accident." Alice began to feel the calm she had originally had slowly bleeding out of her, as the possible truth of the situation began to try and seep its way in. Elma opened her mouth to respond when suddenly she froze; her smile was gone, all of the warmth in her face had drained away, with what appeared to be panic slowly taking its place. Spinning she looked off into the black, searching for something, and much to her distaste, finding it.

"I'm sorry but there isn't time." She said turning back to Alice. "It won't be safe here much longer, if she finds you here- if she discovers she can get to you this way I fear what she may do."

"Who? Who are you talking about?"

"You must go now-"

"Go? I don't even know how I got here! And what about you? When will I-"

"Worry not about me. As for when we'll see each other again, as soon as it's safe is all I can tell you. Now, you must go." Elma lifted her arm, leveling it until her hand was centered at Alice's chest. Suddenly a torrent of wind came from nowhere, slamming into Alice's chest like a freight train, knocking her backwards off her feet.

And she fell.

As if a ten ton weight had been strapped to her waist she was dragged backwards, down, down into the darkness, Elma quickly fading from view, the only thing left of her was her voice chasing after Alice as she tumbled down.

"Beware!" It warned, above the wind rushing passed her ears. "Beware the Beldam!" Alice's decent continued faster now, spiraling out of control, twisting and turning as she plummeted farther and faster, until she slammed into something and everything went completely black.

Alice bolted up right, back in her bed, in her room. She didn't even notice that she had been screaming, was still screaming until Gigi and Conall came into her room. She didn't notice Gigi checking the window, and barely noticed Conall holding her hands, looking her dead in the face trying to get her to focus and calm down. It was as if everything she was hearing was under water, muddled and far away, Conall's voice came to her ears long after it had left his mouth.

"A…l…i…c…e… …Al…ic…e… Alice!" her eyes finally focused, finding his, her voice now raw from screaming, barely able to come out as more than anything other than a rasp.

"Alice, sweetie, what is it? What's wrong?" Gigi now, at her side, hand on her shoulder, face twisted with concern.

"…B-bel…"

"Bell?"

"… Bel…dam… Beldam…" she finally managed, whispering it in a strange sort of shock. Gigi and Conall shared a strained look before Gigi pulled Alice into her arms, crushing her to her chest, rubbing her hair, rocking and soothing her like a small child.

"It's okay honey, it's okay." She soothed trying to convince herself of the same. But Alice's behavior was troubling, and she couldn't ignore the claw marks she'd seen on the other side of the window. Faint though they were, they were still there.

"It's okay baby, it's okay. Nothing's going to harm you, not while I'm here. Not while we're here. It's okay, it's okay."

* * *

><p>Morning came far sooner for Alice than she would have liked.<p>

Gigi had stayed in the room the rest of the night, hoping it would calm Alice down enough to get her back to sleep; unfortunately it hadn't worked. The rest of the night had been rather fitful one for Alice, catching small snatches of sleep here and there, anything longer than a few moments was immediately haunted by strange creatures, strange people, all cloaked in shadow their faces hidden away.

Gigi watched as Alice sat staring at her plate, pushing her food around. It was plain as day on her face that she wasn't in a good mood, and everyone in the house knew it. Both boys had been awoken by the episode last night, Conall had ended up spending quite some time calming Georgie down until he was able to go back to sleep himself. This morning he sat at the table watching Alice timidly as he ate.

"Come on Alice let's not drag, you're going to be late if you do." The only respond she got was a barely audible grunt. And this was how the rest of the morning went. Gigi was right in Alice's falling behind, she ended up sending Willis ahead and took over dropping Alice off this morning herself. As Alice slid out of the front passenger seat of the van in front of the school, Gigi mentally marked that her mood hadn't improved at all, deep down she hoped that everyone would take heed of the warning signs clearly marked by Alice's demeanor and just leave well enough alone today. As she pulled away from the curb a small voice reminded her in the back of head that this, this was high school, no one ever knew when to leave well enough alone.

"God have mercy on the soul who crosses her today," Gigi muttered. "God only knows they'll need it."

* * *

><p>As he had the day before, Jareth resumed his post near the girl named Alice. He had watched from the tree line as she'd been deposited at the school and had dragged into the building, barely making it to her first class before the final bell rang. It didn't take the Goblin King long to notice that his grey eyed girl was not the same as she'd been; as he followed her from class to class he watched as she sourly slammed her locker and barely saluted her companions with her usual gusto. Most of the day went on like this, much to the disdain of the young king, he did not much care for this foul mood that had come over his Alice and was curious to find the source. He was not the only one, it would seem, that wished to know.<p>

"Hey, are you okay?" the boy named Willis had caught up to Alice as she transferred things from her locker to her bag, reaching back in for her lunch before slamming the door shut.

"You've been out of it all day. What's wrong?"

"I, I just didn't get a good night sleep last night." She sighed, avoiding eye contact. "That's it."

"Come on now, it's more than that. I'd have to be a complete dunce to not notice."

"… I … I had a really weird dream… long story short it freaked me out and I had a really hard time getting back to sleep afterwards."

"Weird dream?" Willis watched as she merely nodded. "How weird?"

"Weird enough to wake up the whole house." Alice heard the low, sharp intake of air from Willis at her response. "Want to know the weirdest thing? In the dream there was something about a Beldam."

"A Beldam?"

"What's a Beldam?" Tucker had joined up with the pair, a confused expression working across his face having caught the tail end of the conversation.

"It's an old word, means 'hag' or 'witch', mostly it's reserved for really ugly ones. Why are we talking about Beldams?" Ilex now standing beside Willis, interjected.

"Alice had a freaky dream." Willis sighed, trying to wave her off, wanting to get more out of Alice while she was still willing to share.

"About a beldam? What are you doing dreaming about a beldam?"

"I don't know!" Alice snipped a little louder than she'd meant. "It's not like I requested it before I went to sleep or anything. 'Hey, dream peoples, you got anything in the catalog about beldams? Just wondering, haven't dreamt about those in a while, you know? Just figured I'd spice things up a bit!'"

"Wait," the look on Ilex's face became more serious. "You've dreamt of this stuff before?"

"No…" Alice began, not really wanting to continue the direction of the conversation. Realizing she wasn't getting out of it she let out a short sigh before continuing. "Not this dream specifically. But it's not the first time I've heard beldam in my dreams before. It was when I was younger, not long after the accident, I don't remember too much about it but Gigi would tell me that I would wake up screaming about how the beldam was coming to get me or that the beldam was after me. She said it really worried her, and that if it went on too long she was going to take me to see a councilor. But the dreams began to fade and until last night, there hadn't been one for years."

To say Jareth's interest was piqued would have been an understatement. He was thoroughly engrossed in the direction of the conversation. Mulling over what he had learned, he couldn't help but notice he shared some of the same questions as her companions; his knowledge of dreams was not nearly as expansive and in depth as some of his kind, but he knew enough to know that dreams of this nature, pushing on the edge of nightmares had the possibility of being more than a simple night fright experienced by the dreamer. With the mention of a beldam and prior occurrences of this dream, in whatever form, his concerns heightened. But the one thing that had him the most curious was this mention of an accident; what did it have to do with anything, obviously it deep troubled his Alice.

_My Alice? Now when did that happen? _ He smirked to himself. Jareth was snatched away from his thoughts and back to the present by a slightly familiar voice. Everyone's attention had turned from Alice towards a girl standing a few opposite of her in the center of the hallway. Feet set apart, arms akimbo, smirk painted across her face, it was clear the girl had said something with the purpose of irking Alice and it was even more clear by the look on her face that she was succeeding; her name, what was her name again?

"Take a hike Abigail." _That's it_.

"What's wrong? Little orphan Annie having a bad day? Are you missing your mommy?"

"Shove off Abigail," Ilex spoke up now, advancing slowly, squaring off with the girl. "Before someone makes you." The tension was lost however when a strange laugh came from behind Ilex, from Alice.

"Bravo Abigail, bravo. Did it take you all night to figure that one out? Did you practice in front of your mirror? 'Little orphan Annie'? Don't you think I've heard that before? Don't you think you should get some new material?" Alice shook her head. "I have more important things to deal with than you and your mental short comings today Abigail."

Jareth watched as, without waiting for any response, Alice began to walk away. The more time he spent around this girl, the more he found interesting, amusing, and likable about this girl.

Abigail however, was not done, the sting of the insult still fresh she advanced, taking hold of Alice's arm pulling her back.

"What did you say, you psychotic freak?"

Alice looked at the hand on her arm, and with a strange eerie sort of calm coming over her she looked in the eyes of the girl across from her. "Let go of my arm Abigail."

"Oh and what are you going to do if I don't?" she challenged.

"Let go of my arm Abigail." The tension that was rising between the two was almost palatable.

"Oh you want me to let go? Okay. Fine." Abigail released her arm, to only a brief second later slam her hands into Alice's chest, sending her tumbling backwards, her books and lunch spilling everywhere.

From this moment, Jareth would recount later, everything seemed to slow down. Abigail turned, glancing around at her companions searching for affirmation and approval of her behavior. Ilex advanced, shouting, clearly upset, fists clenched, muscles tensed ready for a fight. Willis joined Ilex in his rebuke, glaring at the girl opposite of them. Teachers and other students began to peak around corners, entering the hallway drawn by the commotion. Abigail laughed, triumphant, cocky, expecting no reaction more than the other girl to pick up her things and move. Here was her folly.

In an instance Alice was on her knees and was launching herself forward, a growl of fury rushing past her lips as she sprang forward, connecting with Abigail, taking her to the floor. Pure fury radiated off her as she sat astride the girl, pinning her to the laminate flooring, fists swinging.

After recovering from the initial shock of the situation, Ilex jumped forward, wrapping her arms around Alice's waist, wrenching her backwards, still swinging, off of Abigail. Ilex struggled to maintain her course backwards, Alice's continuous lurches forward making it extremely difficult to maintain her grip as well as her balance. A teacher advanced now, taking hold of Abigail and as another took hold of Alice from Ilex, dragging them both down the hallway towards the front office.

And Jareth watched as the teachers took them away, a strange feeling stirring within him. He had made a vast miscalculation. This mortal girl was far more than he had imagined, she was intriguing, attractive, and cunning; but more than that, she had the spark of warrior in her, though it would need refining, it was still there nonetheless. But one thing was certain as he stood, unseen, amongst her companions watching her disappear around the corner, the Goblin King had made up his mind, this mortal girl was of a rare breed indeed. And he wanted her.

* * *

><p>Conall Toomey was a quiet man, usually calm and levelheaded. Of course he hadn't always been that way. When he was younger he would have been better described as scrappy and quick tempered, rowdy even would come into play from time to time. When he'd first become friends with the young man who would soon be his best friend and eventually the father of his goddaughter he began to calm down and think more clearly. Calm clear thinking came in even more handy when his boys came along, and again when Alice joined the family, so as he found himself walking into the principal's office of Alice's high school he began reminding himself to keep calm.<p>

As he entered into the office he found the principal behind his desk, a blank mask on his features. In chairs on the opposite side of the desk sat Abigail Connelly and her mother, Abigail bemoaning her current state, while her mother glared at Alice. Alice sat in the chair farthest from the Connelly's, arms crossed, her face steeled against showing any emotion, her eyes boring holes into the wall behind the principal's head.

"Mr. Whittaker." Conall nodded reaching over the desk extending his hand.

"Ah Mr. Toomey." The man behind the desk smiled, taking Conall's hand in a firm handshake. "I'm glad you're here, now we can get things underway."

"Yes," Conall began as he took his seat, unbuttoning his blazer for comfort. "I was wondering what this was about."

"What this is about?" Abigail's mother shrieked. "This is about how that little monster viciously attacked my little girl!"

"One, Alice is not a 'little monster', as you put it, that would be my youngest son Georgie. And two, with all due respect Mrs. Connelly Abigail hasn't been little for some time." Conall's sarcastic whit brought a smirk to Alice's face.

"And just what is that suppose to mean Mr. Tommy?"

"Toomey. And it means, that Abigail though still a child is not a baby, so I see no reason to treat her as such. You were saying Mr. Whittaker?" Conall cut Mrs. Connelly off before she could launch into one of her classic rants.

"Well I've called you both here on account of the fact of an incident that occurred this afternoon, at the beginning of the lunch hour. Both of your daughters were brought into my office for fighting in the hallway. Now our school has a zero tolerance policy, as you know, for this kind of behavior. Such behavior usually results in a suspension from school. The reason why I called you here however was because of how this scenario seems to have been played out and I would personally like to ask the girls their own opinion of the situation, before I proceed."

"She should be expelled not suspended! Look what she did to me! Look what she did to my face! I wasn't doing anything and she just attacked me! She's a horrible person, she always does stuff like this!"

"My daughter's right, just the other day she viciously attacked her on her way home."

"I did not." Alice bit out, not once moving her eyes from the spot she had chosen on the wall.

"You did so you little liar!"

"I agree with my daughter, I want her expelled! She's nothing more than a menace!"

"I understand that this situation is obviously a very stressful one. But the punishment will not be changed, the aggressor will be suspended, on top of being banned from any upcoming school events, in this particular case that would mean the upcoming dance. Alice," Mr. Whittaker turned toward the less vocal student. "How do you feel about this?"

She simply shrugged before answering. "Do what you have to do."

Mr. Whittaker nodded quietly, thinking for a moment, before turning in his chair bringing the group's attention to a small television sitting on the cabinet behind his desk.

"Not too long ago, after we had some issues with equipment missing from the back of the school, we had a newer security system installed. There are cameras on every hall of this school, they catch practically everything, except for obviously what takes place in the bathroom. There are no blind spots." He paused for a moment fiddling with a small remote in his hands. "Abigail you have expressed your telling of the incident as the truth, is there anything you would like to tell me before I proceed with the video footage?"

Abigail defiantly shook her head. Mr. Whittaker turned to his other student who simply continued to watch the wall across from her. Sighing he leaned back in his chair a pressed play. For the first time since he came into the office Conall watched as Alice's eyes slowly shifted from the wall to the screen, curiosity getting the best of her.

The video feed had no sound, but it didn't need any. It showed Alice at her locker speaking with her friends, Abigail's approach and exchange of words, Alice walking away, Abigail first taking hold of her arm then shoving her, Alice's advance forward, and the subsequent beating that then commenced. They watched as Ilex dragged Alice off of Abigail, and as the teachers intervened bringing both girls to the office. Mr. Whittaker stopped the tape, sat down the remote and turned back to those sitting across from him.

Abigail's face had drained of color, her mother sat mouth hanging open, jaw completely slack. Conall and Alice sat with a similar smirk playing out on their faces, Alice's far more mischievous than Conall's of course.

"Miss Connelly, as I said this school has a zero tolerance policy for aggressors in school fights. You will be suspended, as well as banned from attending the upcoming school dance, as a furthering of your punishment. Mr. Toomey, Alice, you're both free to go."

"You're letting them leave?" Abigail shrieked. "There wasn't any audio! For all you know she could have said something to me! I was the one hurt here! I'm the victim! She deserves to be suspended! Not me!"

"Miss Connelly, if you please! I find it hard to believe that a student that was clearly walking away from what was obviously a potentially volatile situation was the aggressor. As I said Mr. Toomey, Alice, you're free to go, I hope you have a nice afternoon."

"Same to you Mr. Whittaker." Conall grinned standing. "Good afternoon Mrs. Connelly, Abigail. Come Alice."

Once in the car Conall looked over at Alice, watching her stare out the window, lips still sealed.

"You know, we don't condone fighting in our house. Gigi's going to be rather upset with you, especially considering you were almost suspended over this who issue with Abigail. Now I'm not perfect, I used to do the same when I was your age, and got suspended my fair share of times. But fighting is not acceptable and I want to make that clear, is that understood?"

Alice nodded, silently, her gaze still turned out of the window.

"So now that that's taken care of," Conall began again as he brought the car to a stop at a red light. Looking over at Alice a mischievous grin crept across his face, tugging at his lips. "Did you at least give her hell?"

A grin bloomed over Alice's face as she turned to lock eyes with her godfather.

"You know it."

A deep throaty laugh bubbled up out of Conall's chest as the light turned green and pulled away from the school. "That's my girl!"

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><p><em>Whoo! We got through quite a bit!<em>

_Alright, you know the drill guys, feel free to review! It makes me happy :)  
><em>

_Working on the next chapter as we speak, fingers crossed I'll get it up soon. :)  
><em>


	12. Actions and Reactions

Holy crap, it's been forever! Or at least it feels like it. I got caught up in life and internship and all sorts of things that like to swallow time whole. Thanks to all the awesome people who have been checking in and reading regularly! It's really been the motivating factor for me to try and get new chapters out so you guys can have something to read.

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><p>Fairer Tales 12: Action and Reaction<p>

To say Kern was hiding is something he would have never admitted to anyone, lurking, he felt, would be a more appropriate term, he would even go as far to say avoiding, but hiding wasn't true. Not completely true anyway.

After last night's debacle with the wolves and the interruptions, he wasn't ready to approach the queen without the girl she so desired. He was no fool, he saw what had happened to others who had disappointed her in some way, he wasn't prepared to deal with the consequences of coming back empty handed. So when she swept into her quarters and began glancing about the room, searching for him and not finding him instantly, he contemplated bleeding deeper into the shadows and simply disappearing off to somewhere else for a while as her face changed from calm to slowly more perturbed.

"Kern? Kern I know you're here, come out at once." Queen Megara called from the center of her room. When no immediate response was given, her disposition soured. "Kern."

The warning in her voice not lost on him, Kern slowly leaked out of a dark corner near the window, not daring to move any closer to her reach than absolutely necessary.

"Well? Where is she Kern?" Megara watched as the shadow man's eyes flickered, she could see the gears turning behind them, contemplating his next move in silence.

"Kern!" her irritation evident in her voice, Kern stepped forward, slowly, buying himself some time.

"There was a … slight problem."

"You don't have the girl?" The queen's voice was practically shrill at this point. "You _returned _without the girl!"

"There was a complication, my queen, a slight inconvenience."

"An inconvenience! Well I see you managed to make it back here, with your tail between your legs, so it must not been that much of an inconvenience!"

"My queen, please, this is not going to be as easy as we once hoped."

"You have but this one moment to explain yourself Kern, and you had best make a valiant effort."

Taking a breath, Kern recounted his tale of the night before; once he finished Megara seemed to have lost some of her murderous look. "Someone within that home, my queen, knows of our kind, they know how to defend themselves against us and keep us at bay. If it were only the cast iron ornaments throughout the house, then I wouldn't be so worried; it's the fact that those wolves appeared is something that I'm not quite sure how to deal with. There are quite a few things set about to protect her, getting a hold of her is going to be far more complicated than expected, as I said. And the strangest thing out of all of this is that I'm not even sure that the girl is aware that she is being guarded."

It was a long, tense moment before Megara spoke; sifting through all of the information she'd been given. This would be the second time that the girl had slipped from her grasp, and the blaringly obvious issue was that each time she'd left the task up to someone else. While Kern's concerns were valid, they weren't getting her any closer to what she wanted, what she needed, which was the girl here, in front of her, now. Sighing, Megara pinched the bridge of her nose, saying nothing, leaving Kern to become more uneasy with the continued silence.

"It would seem," she began slowly. "That you have failed me, Kern, with this… simple task that I have given you. It would also seem, that I have been a fool in continuing to entrust others with this task instead of doing it myself. This evening, as the sun sets, you will take me to the domicile, you will show me where her room is, and I will take care of this as I should have years ago."

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><p>Jareth had made his way to the woods behind the house of the girl named Alice, eyes trained on the window of her room, waiting. The change in the air was his first signal that he was not alone. Turning casually around Jareth's mismatched eyes landed on the scowling face of his cousin, arms folded, clearly cross.<p>

"Why cousin, I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"Cut the theatrics Jareth."

"Oh, looks like someone's upset." The Goblin King taunted, his grin growing wider as his cousin became more visibly annoyed.

"Jareth is this where you've been? This is what's had you so preoccupied? Neglecting your duties, so you can what? Stalk some human child?"

"For your information, dear cousin, I haven't been neglecting my duties, everything is in place, just as it should be, so if you're going to attempt an argument you should at least have more valid evidence."

"Jareth I-"

"You know I'm surprised at you cousin, I didn't think you followed the same thinking of others within the Underground, I thought you were fine with mortals."

"Jareth don't make this about me! You know more than anyone I couldn't care less, you're the one who's not thinking of the consequences. What exactly are your intentions with this girl? There are plenty of mortal women that you could chase around in the Underground, why bother yourself with continuing to come up to the Above?

"Have you even thought past your own immediate actions? What are you going to do exactly? Expose yourself her? Woo her? Expose her to magic? Then what? Just leave her here? You know what happens when mortals from the Above are exposed to our magic; their world is so starved for it that they'll become addicted to it, the girl with wither and die, a painful and lonely existence after you leave her here, have you considered that at all?"

Derrick watched as his words seem to have little effect on his cousin's demeanor, his expression and his current stance giving off the air of complete ambivalence. Jareth's eyes drifted from his cousin's face back to the second floor window and back again, a simple shrug being his only response.

"I can't believe this." Derrick sighed, exasperated, shaking his head in disgust. Derrick had seen this many times before, and it always ended horrible for the female involved. For whatever reason, Jareth would pick some hapless victim, for that's what they might as well have been, victims, and would set his sights on them, pursuing them until the end goal was reached and then would push them aside like a child who had lost interest in an old toy. Then, after a brief moment of what seemed like clarity and proper judgment, he would do it again. Derrick attributed it to the goblin nature that his cousin had in part, embraced upon taking the Goblin throne, but this instance was different, his rash behavior had never brought him Aboveground before; he let his gaze follow Jareth's line of sight to the window on the second floor that was still empty.

"Jareth, please, what do I have to do to convince you to stop this?"

"Stop what cousin? There's nothing wrong with simply watching."

"We both know it never stops there." Derrick muttered, locking eyes with his cousin once more. Their staring episode was cut short by the sound of the screen door on the back of the house exploding open and a small boy running off the back deck talking excitedly over his shoulder. The next one out of the door was the one Derrick could only assume was the poor soul his cousin had set his eyes on. Garbage bags in hand she made her way down the deck stairs joining the small red headed boy in the yard, bits of their conversation making its way over to wear they stood hidden.

"How hard did you hit her?"

"No Georgie, we're not talking about this."

"But dad said you guys got into a fight! And Abigail's a jerk, you should have kicked her too!" Derrick watched as the girl rolled her eyes while tossing the bags into a bin and slammed the lid down.

"Georgie, let it go please. It was a fight, it was stupid, I don't want to talk about this, right now. And you know what Abigail may be a 'jerk' as you put it, and you know what may be worse, but Gigi's already peeved at me about this and the last thing I need is for you to get all excited about this whole thing."

"But, she's-"

"I don't care Georgie. Just promise me you'll let it go." After some consideration Georgie nodded his agreement, bringing a small smile to the girl's face. "Good. Now go on, I'll be in after I drag these to the curb." The small boy ran ahead, back into the house, as the girl turned to continue her task.

Derrick's attention turned back to his cousin, and his heart sank at what he saw, the look on his face confirmed Derrick's earlier assumptions. His eyes were nothing but predatory having not left her once since she had appeared. Jareth's posture changed as the girl moved towards the heaviest bin, tipping it back on its wheels to drag it easier.

"Alice…" he called softly from his hidden position.

"Jareth, what are you doing?" hissed Derrick, stepping forward. Ignoring his cousin, Jareth continued, a little louder this time.

"Alice…" the girl froze, letting go of the bin, head spinning around looking back at the house to see if someone had called her, her face twisting in confusion.

"Alice." He called again, eyes dark, a grin blossoming on his face as she turned, now facing in their direction. "Come here, Alice."

"Jareth!"

"Come now cousin you said so yourself, leaving her Above would be such a terrible thing."

"Jareth stop it!" Derrick took hold of his arm in an attempt to get his attention, but Jareth merely shook him off. "Jareth you can't seriously be considering taking her Underground. Jareth! Answer me!"

But Jareth wasn't listening, his eyes locked on his Alice as curiosity got the best of her as she moved closer to the edge of the woods. All he needed was for her to come a little closer…

"Alice-"

"ALICE!" the girl jumped turning her attention back towards the house, to the man standing on the deck. "Alice leave the bins and come inside, dinner's ready!"

"But-"

"Just leave it, you can get them in the morning, come inside!"

"O-okay!" she took one last look back in the direction of Jareth and Derrick before jogging back to the house, up the stairs of the deck, and back inside. Derrick let out a sigh of relief at the timing of the man on the porch, Jareth however was not nearly as pleased. As the sun continued to set, Derrick once again began to plead with his cousin.

"Come let's go, we can discuss this back Underground."

"There's nothing to discuss, cousin." was Jareth's snarky reply as he turned to face his cousin. "I…" his words trailed off as his eyes fixated on something just over Derrick's shoulder. Confused Derrick turned around searching for the thing that had caught his cousin's attention. But as he searched he found nothing.

"What?"

After a moment Jareth shook it off, turning his attention back to his cousin. "Why are you meddling in my affairs?"

"Meddling in- Are you serious? Jareth I-" but Jareth didn't wait to hear what his cousin had to say, in a flash of sparks and magic he disappeared from in front of his cousin. "Oh no, you're not getting off that easy."

Derrick growled as he let his own magic sweep him up, carrying him back Underground. After a few failed attempts at locating his cousin in his usual haunts within the castle a furious Derrick appeared in Jareth's study to find him lounging in the chair behind his desk, feet propped up in front of him, lazily tossing a crystal orb from hand to hand.

"Jareth, we need to speak, now!"

"Derrick, go away, I haven't got time for your complaints."

"Make time." Derrick bit out slamming his hands down onto the desk. Jareth's eyes flicked up to meet his cousin's, standing, both fae's stare clearly showing their unwillingness to back down.

"Have you gone completely daft!"

"Get out Derrick." Jareth growled.

"No! I'm not leaving until we discuss this!"

"Why don't you simply admit that the reason you're cross with me is because I simply didn't let you in on my little secret."

"Jareth we're not children anymore! I couldn't care less who you plan to pursue or bed but for all that is sacred think about what you're doing!"

"Again I don't see where any of this is really any of your concern."

"My con- You don't- I should-" Derrick let out a low growl of frustration, his face in his hand as he tried to calm himself.

"Come now, Derrick," Jareth grinned letting himself fall back into his chair, feet returning to their upright position on his desk, calling forth a crystal orb, letting it run over his fingers. "You said so yourself we're not children anymore."

Jareth watched as his cousin glared at him over the top of his hand.

"Oh come now cousin!" he mocked. "What are you going to do? Run and tell my mother on me?" Jareth watch as a light came on behind Derrick's eyes. A large mischievous grin made its way across his face as the idea took hold.

"What are you think-" Jareth's hand halted the movements of the crystal he'd been playing with, his eyes darkening as he watched his cousin. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Nanny!" there was a brief pause before a familiar feeling of static from magic filled the air, an instant later Nanny stood looking slightly annoyed as the flurry of glitter and sparks died down.

"What are you boys up to now?" Nanny inquired after a quick look around. "It doesn't look like anyone's bleeding or drunk so why am I here?"

"Wow Nanny I didn't know you had so much faith in our behavior." Jareth commented flatly turning away from the two of them in his chair.

"Well considering the behavior you've both exhibited in the last few nights, and let's not even get into the years of your childhood that I kept up with the two of you trouble makers. So I'll ask again, why exactly am I here?"

Nanny looked at the both of them, quickly surmising that an argument of some kind was raging and she had been pulled into the thick of it. By the looks of it, both boys were close to boiling over, but the one she was most concerned about was the one who had turned away; Jareth's temper was nothing if not nightmarish when it reached a head, attempting to talk him down was next to nearly impossible. They stood in an awkward and unsettling silence for a moment longer before Derrick finally spoke.

"Jareth's started up another one of his 'games'." He spat out the last word as if it put a sour taste in his mouth. "Only this time he's set his sights on a mortal girl."

"As much as I don't approve of these 'games', what would you have me do Derrick? This is not the first mortal that Jareth has pursued, I'm sure you've both shared stories of your various conquests." Nanny watch as something close to maybe remorse, or was it sheepishness flash through his eyes at her comment on their past behavior.

"She's from Above." At this Nanny started, but managed to keep her composure, masking her shock and slowly growing concern with a face of indifference. However, Jareth took her silence differently.

"Come Nanny, you've missed your cue. This is where you rally with Derrick, as he so wants you to, and set to task attempting to tell me how horrible my actions are and how I should be ashamed of myself and whatever else have you. Better yet," Jareth continued, anger obvious not only in his eyes but now in his demeanor as well. "Since you two seem to be having this conversation well enough without me, why don't you continue to do so, I obviously need not be here." And in a explosion of magic Jareth left the room, a smothering silence filling his wake.

"Jareth! Blast it Jareth! We're not done-"

"Leave it alone Derrick." Nanny warned. "You and I both know that attempting to talk to him in the state he's in will only drive him to what he's planned more. Besides, I can tell, he's already made up his mind on what he wants to do. As unfortunate as it will be for the girl involved, we'll just have to let this run its course like the others, and hope that maybe he'll lose interest in her before he gets himself in to deep." Nanny turned to leave, she'd really hoped that this behavior had just been a phase, Derrick had seemed to grow out of it some, disappointed didn't describe how she felt, more disheartened truth be told. As her hand came rest on the latch of the door, something crossed her mind, slowing her in her steps.

"Derrick, why _is_ it that you have such an interest in this particular case? It can't just be because the girl is from Above."

Derrick sighed, shaking his head, not making eye contact with Nanny.

"Derrick, what is it now? Tell me."

"You wouldn't by chance remember Jareth's last 'game' would you?"

"Remember? I would have to be completely daft to forget that utter disaster! Why?" Derrick gave Nanny a wary look.

"Because, she's back."

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><p>Queen Megara stood outside of the house that held the girl she'd come to claim.<p>

The dark of night cloaking her, she watched the house thinking of her next move. From where she stood in the shadows she could just begin to sense the cast iron within the house meant to keep her kind at bay; the doors and the girl's window weren't the only places they could be found, they had be strategically placed throughout the house from what she could tell, leaving her no real entrance into the house. This however, did nothing to discourage her.

"Kern." The shadow man silently appeared beside his queen, waiting patiently for her next command. "When you were watching Jareth, did you notice anyone who felt any animosity towards girl?"

"Yes," Kern began, as he recounted the day he'd spent hovering just a few steps behind the young Goblin King. "I believe so. A girl, young, about her age, why?"

"What was her name?"

"Her name? Abigail? Abigail, I believe." The shadow man's curiosity perked at this blossoming development.

"Do you happen to know where this Abigail resides?"

"Yes… I believe I do."

"Then show me. Now." In less than a blink, Kern had swept up the shadows around them and carried himself and his queen off, appearing a breath later in front of the Connelly residence.

"Would you like me to accompany you inside my lady?"

"Silence." Megara snipped, holding up a hand. "Let me think." The house stood quiet, most of the residents appeared to have fallen asleep, though the few lights she did see within suggested that the one she wished to locate might still be awake. The question was how to proceed next. Mortals had always had been strange creatures, even more so now. In the past she'd either been almost immediately worshiped and feared or shunned and avoided by those who knew better. With mortals in the Above now having such little magic left in their world, their belief in such things was dwindling as well. Merely appearing to the girl may hinder her more than aid.

"Stay here until I call for you." Megara cloaked herself in a glamour of invisibility before appearing inside the house. Walking around she found her way to and up the stairs and to the bedroom of a young teenage girl. She sat on her bed scribbling in a notebook as a box on her dresser flashed images and sound.  
>"Abigail, it's getting late, you should go to bed." Megara turned from where she stood, unseen, in the center of the room, to find a woman standing in the doorway.<p>

"Why bother?" the girl muttered to her mother. "It's not like I have school in the morning."

"There's nothing we can do about it now. Try not to stay up too late."

"Whatever." She snipped under her breathe as her mother left. Moving to the girl's side Megara looked over her shoulder to see the content of the notebook, a sinister smile blossoming on her face at what she saw.

"Stupid Alice," the girl grumbled tearing out the page on top, crumbling and tossing it at the waste bin near her desk. "Ruining everything, now I can't even go to the stupid dance."

Megara watched as Abigail went back to scribbling furiously in her notebook, waiting. The girl was furious, her demeanor as well as her writings made that more than evident, she was simply waiting until the opportune moment to act.

"Stupid Alice… I wish… I'll get you back for this, you just wait."

"My dear I think I may be able to be of some assistance." Megara appeared before the girl, her sinister intentions hidden behind a mask of feigned concern. The startled girl backed into the corner of her bed, mouth agape, color draining from her face.

"W-who are you? How'd you get in here? What are you?"

"First why don't we make sure we have some privacy hmm?" Megara painted on her best sweet smile as, with a simple flick of her hand, the door to Abigail's room closed and latched, as well as the sound on the television turned up enough to cover their voices.

"W-what? How did you do that?"

"Why, with magic my dear, of course."

"Magic?" Abigail eyed her suspiciously. "Really magic? What and you're supposed to be some sort of fairy godmother or something? Sorry lady, I gave up on such fairy tale fluff a long time ago."

"Good, then we're at least in agreement about something." The sweet smile fell from the queen's face, replaced with the intimidating façade many of the maids who attended her had been exposed to for years.

"I am no fairy godmother, child. I am a queen, a fae queen, and I assure you I am nothing like the silly fairy tales you grew up with. I am here because I heard your wish."

"But I didn't actually wish for…" but Abigail's words failed her as she was caught up in that icy gaze, reassuring her that her interruption was not welcome. Watching the girl cower, Megara paused, to rethink her current direction. Absolutely terrifying the girl wasn't the best way to proceed. Sighing she sat on the bed, placing a mask of concern on her face.

"My dear I'm sorry, you see I am quite taxed, at my wits end for you see, for all the powers I have as a fae and as a queen there is a problem that I have that I simply cannot solve on my own."

"Problem? What kind of problem?" _Naturally, mortals are always so easily swayed, this girl is no different._

"You and I both seem to share a problem person. Alice." Megara noted how a fire seemed to light up behind Abigail's eyes.

"Alice? What about her?"

"For quite a long time her family has been at work against me. I cannot tell you how for, you see, it would take much too long of a time to explain it and my time here in your world is brief. She has become a stumbling block and she's keeping me from my goals. I noticed that she has done the same with you, and I thought, you might be able to aid me in my endeavors?"

"Aid you? What's in it for me?"

_Sly girl, I'll give her that much. _"Of course I would reward you for your services."

"How though?"

"I assure you, it will be quite the reward, more than you could ever expect, my dear. More than your wildest dreams could conjure. You seem not like most, riches and power is what I see for you."

"Now that sounds promising." The queen watched as a sly grin moved across the girl's face.

"So we are in agreement?"

"Yes, I'll help. What do I have to do?"

"As I've said my time is short here, but I will be in contact with you. Here take this." Megara handed Abigail a small embroidered pouch. Upon opening it she found a small golden compact inside.

"A mirror?"

"Keep it close and I will bet in touch with you when I need you."

"Okay," Abigail mutter as she inspected the new trinket. "But how…" But looking up she found Megara gone. Glancing about her room for a moment longer, Abigail put away her things and turned off her tv, her light and settled herself into bed. From the curb Megara and Kern watched the queen's newest pawn slipped into a deep slumber.

"What would you have me do this night my queen?"

"This Abigail will only become more useful to me if I use her anger against her, send some of your kin into her dreams, search through them for something useful, and be sure to begin exploiting them as soon as possible. Notify me immediately if you find something particularly interesting that may serve us as especially useful."

"Yes my queen." Kern bowed deeply. "And what of Alice?"

"As for Alice," Megara began as she walked onward, the dark of the night surrounding her, enveloping her as she prepared to cross the void between this world and her own. Glancing back at Kern over her shoulder, Queen Megara paused, a sinister grin once again making its way across her flawless face. "Take who you have available and continue to pay her a visit. She may be guarded at night, but she's not constantly under supervision. The more we unsettle her the more likely she is to be susceptible to our whims, which will make it even easier to ensnare her when the time comes. And oh what a glorious time that will be."

Kern once again swept into a deep, dramatic bow as Queen Megara vanished into the night, leaving no trace of herself except for the lingering ghost of her callous laughter.

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><p><em>And that's it for Chapter 12! Things are moving along pretty well.<em>

_Thing are happening, once one thing gets untangled another bundle of mess comes up. It's all so intriguing! :)  
><em>

_I hope you guys are enjoying, thanks for those who keep commenting/reviewing, I love sending people messages :)  
><em>

_Here's hoping I can get the next chapter out sooner! :)  
><em>


	13. Down, Down, Down

Why hello everyone! It has been a minute hasn't it? Well life, school, and other such crazy things have been happening and this chapter just took some time in getting done. Well, those things and the fact that there was some ground that I really wanted to cover before I finished up this one and posted it. Thanks to all of those who have Favorited and Alerted and occasionally still drop by, it means a lot and has been keeping the fire under my butt to get stuff posted for you all to read.

Well without any further delay I give you the chapter you've been so patiently waiting for. :) Enjoy!

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><p>Fairer Tales 13: Down, Down, Down<p>

The next few days were less than stellar in Alice's eyes. Between the strange dreams and the ever present task of dealing with being at the epicenter of the most recent high school related drama, she could barely catch a break. Her mood swings had become even more intense with the lack of a sound night sleep and keeping a lid on them was draining more of her reserve energy to the point where quick cat naps in class were happening with more frequency than her teachers were willing to forgive. When her educators felt that the calls to Gigi and Conall weren't nearly enough Alice found herself, once again, in the principal's office, only this time the one joining them was one of the school councilors and neither Gigi nor Conall were anywhere to be seen.

In some aspect, somewhere far separated from the school, Alice assumed that the ever hovering, ever "correct" Mrs. Groves was actually a wonderful woman, pleasant to know and wonderful to be around. But when it came to being a guidance councilor, at least in respect towards Alice, she found the woman extremely lacking and more of a hindrance and annoyance than an aid. Most of her interactions with the woman had been less than wonderful, her first encounter being her prodding into how her parents had passed away instead of just letting it go, convinced that her amnesia was just a front for a young girl "acting tough" and not wanting to discuss her "feelings". Other encounters had resulted on the basis that Alice hadn't answered the woman when she'd been calling her, only to have it pointed out once again to Mrs. Groves that her name was not Alex, Amy, Tiffany, or Jessica. The fact that she was the other point of this strained triangle of tension currently only served to tax Alice's ever waning patience.

"Alice I asked you a question, did you hear me?" Mrs. Groves stated waiting for a response from the stone faced grey eyed girl to her right. When no answer came she continued with her line of passive aggressive pestering.

"You know Alice I must say I'm quite shocked at your behavior recently, I thought we had gotten over this sort of acting out years ago. You're a senior now, I expect more from you. You have so much potential, what with your intelligence you could do so many things. Fighting and being violent with your peers, sleeping in class, this is not how you're going to get there. Tell me Alice what's your plan for college?"

"I'm not going." Alice stated blandly. If Gigi were here, she would have given her quite the sharp stare, that harsh stern look that only mothers seemed to be able to give. But she wasn't here, and Alice didn't feel like being cooperative, if this woman was going to dig for information she was going to have to work for it.

"You're not going?" Mrs. Groves tried to act shocked. "Why not?"

"Why should I?"

"Alice, mind your tone please." Mr. Whittaker stated calmly from behind his desk.

"Why not? Because it could open so many avenues for you, why with your intelligence-"

"Eidetic memory."

"Excuse me?"

"Since you're so keen on bringing it up, it's called an Eidetic memory, it means I can recall things really easily, in layman's terms, a photographic memory. I remember stuff, that's how it works. I read it, I learn it, it's there. It's not some magically great I.Q. that I was bestowed with, it's just how my brain works, I remember things better than most people. It's not 'special', it's just … convenient. An amusing parlor trick at best, an annoyance to others at worse."

Mrs. Groves paused, Alice knew she'd been waiting for a moment to ask the question she always asked, and she'd just given her the fader for it.

"Alice, now I know this is a sensitive subject for you, but I would like to talk to you about your parents."

"Gigi and Conall are fine, they're doing quite well actually."

"Alice, now you know I mean your _real_ parents. I know it's something that is a painful memory for you, but I want you to know that I'm here for you; I think a lot of your out bursts lately are closely related to the lost you've felt and I think that discussing it would really help you."

"Really, you sure?" Alice began, something in her snapping, the dam of emotions that had built had a chink in it now, a small spout that sent a torrent of words from Alice's mouth. Unable to stop it or unwilling she wasn't sure, but it had started now and she wasn't sure where it was going.

"You keep saying you're so willing to help, so willing to listen, but you don't seem to be retaining anything after we 'talk'. I have amnesia, due to the trauma of the event, I don't remember what happened that night, before, after, what have you, but in your ever present state of 'wanting to help' you keep seeming to forget that. You forget that about as much as you forget my name, which by the way is Alice, which is why I didn't answer you when you called me in the hall earlier because it's not Alex, it's not Anise, it's Alice. Just in case you were wondering, what my plans for my future are, like most other things you've tried to find out about me, are none of your business. So if you don't mind I'd like to call my _parents, _because that's what they are, whether you want to admit it or not, so they can come pick me up so I can go home."

"Alice you're not in trouble here-"

"I want to go home Mrs. Groves!"

"Young lady I-"

"Mrs. Groves, I think I can handle it from here, thank you for your … help. I will speak with you later. I'd like to talk with Alice by myself for a moment. Thank you." Realizing she'd been dismissed Mrs. Groves silently stood and left the room. After giving the air a moment to clear and become less tense Mr. Whittaker spoke up.

"Alice, a question. This dance this weekend, from our earlier encounter you said you were planning on going correct?"

"If you want to kick me out because of all of this, do it. I don't care."

"That's not what I asked. And though that may be true, you not caring, that's not really what I'm looking for." Mr. Whittaker sighed as he leaned back in his chair, thinking for a moment, his line of sight on something far out the window that Alice couldn't see.

"I'm not going to keep you from attending the dance," he started again. "Though most in my position would consider it a way to teach you a 'proper lesson' about your behavior, I think you and I both know that whether or not you go, won't make as big of an impact on you as it may another student. If I remember correctly, I haven't seen you at many school events before, so I was pleasantly surprised when I heard that you were considering attending. I don't think sitting at home, making you 'think about what you've done' will solve anything here. Hence why, I'm still allowing you to go.

"I've spoken with both Mr. and Mrs. Toomey and frankly, I think we all agree that it may help for you to take your mind off of certain stressors that have been getting to you more recently. That being said Alice, if this negative behavior continues, my hands will be tied, and there will be repercussions. Is that clear?"

After a moment of silence Alice nodded. Principal Whittaker was among the few staff members in the school who hadn't treated Alice like some horrible wreck they needed to make their life's work; to attempt to repair her and make her better than she was before, and she was more than grateful to him for it.

With their agreement set, Mr. Whittaker dismissed Alice, and gathering her things she left his office and walked out of the school. The late afternoon sun stung her eyes as she headed toward the parking lot, ready for the walk home, only to run into the familiar silhouette of Willis and his bike, helmet in his hands, waiting. Waiting for her. Grin set on his face as always, he handed her the spare helmet, watching her put it on before he did the same with his. As she settled behind him, and held him close, she heard him call over his shoulder.

"So, where to friend?"

"Home, friend. Take me home."

* * *

><p>Later that same day, Gigi found herself in her office, staring off into space. She had made a promise to herself long ago that after 5 in the afternoon she would leave her office, stop work and enjoy the rest of her day. Today had been no exception, really. She'd worked through the day, with an occasional break here or there. She'd gotten a call from the principal's office again, in regards to Alice, and though Mr. Whittaker had said that everything had been taken care of and there wasn't anything to worry about, she still found herself tense until she heard the familiar sound of Willis' bike pull up a long side the curb. A few seconds later Alice had wandered into the house but before she could make it upstairs Gigi had intercepted her, and instead of dredging up the same old story as of late, of Alice once again in trouble at school, she informed her they were going to go dress shopping. And much to Gigi's surprise, Alice actually seemed excited to go. Maybe they were both tired of all of this nonsense that had been weighing them down lately, or were seeking an excuse to ignore the past few nights of haunted sleep and welcomed the distraction. Whatever the case, they'd returned that night successful huntresses, their bounty now hanging on the back of Alice's bedroom door. And as the house had begun to quiet down for the night, Gigi found herself wondering through it, seeking the face of her old friend, forever in that frame she left on her desk.<p>

Staring at the old family photo of her friends, in the dim light of her office, Gigi sighed. _Another milestone without you, _she thought touching the faces of Alice's parents locked behind the glass.

"I wish you could have seen her. She looks absolutely stunning in it. Of course Conall will take thousands of pictures of her before she leaves, like he always does. Her grandmother called the other day to see how she was doing, Alice was out, but she said she can't wait to see her all done up for the dance. Willis is taking her. Sweet boy. He's become quite the handsome young man lately, unfortunately I don't think Alice has quite noticed yet, much like you did when you two met." She laughed to herself, remembering the hilarious antics Alice's father had to go through simply to try and get her mother's attention.

"I'm worried about her. Of course I always worry about her. How she's doing, how she's missing you, how she feels here with us, if she's happy, you know. But … lately, it's been so weird. These last few nights really have me worried. Her dreams, oh gosh, that other night when she woke up, screaming like she was; it was like that when we first brought her back from the hospital all over again. Like she didn't even remember where she was. We thought the dreams were gone for good when they had stopped back then, and now… and now I don't even know what to do. I'm so scared she'll slip back to where she was, and we'll lose her all over again. I'm not sure what to do. I-" Gigi's thoughts were cut short. Her head snapped up, ears straining. The house responded with dead silence, but she knew she'd heard something.

Placing the picture back on the desk, Gigi stood slowly moving her way from her office, into the hallway. The television in the living room was off, only the soft ticking of the wall clock could be heard in the hallway.

There is was again.

Short. Faint. But there all the same; it came from upstairs. Gigi slowly ascended the staircase, stepping over the aged spots that would have squeaked under her feet. She knew those spots by heart, she'd snuck up on the boys staying up late pass their bed time when they were younger, or when they were wreaking havoc somewhere up the stairs. She paused at the top of the stairs, listening again, this time she heard it, clearly. It was coming from farther back down the hallway, pass the boy's rooms, the bathroom. As she rounded the corner she paused, facing the three doors before her, her and Conall's bedroom, the hallway closet, and Alice's door. When the sound came again, it clearly came from behind Alice's shut door. _Maybe she left her radio on…_ But that idea was struck down immediately, for when the sound came again, Gigi noticed a faint light accompanying it, casting an eerie glow under the door. Placing a light hand on the door, Gigi steadied her breathing, and slowly pushed it open; what she saw next sucked the breath out of her.

Alice lay curled against the wall, in the upper corner of her bed, moaning and whimpering in her sleep, writhing under the covers lost in more fit filled dreams. But that was not what made Gigi's blood turn cold. The frame of the window next to Alice's bed was glowing, as were the decorative iron scissors that held back the shears. On the other side of the window was a dark mass, there was no other way to describe it; one moment where she thought she'd seen many dark creatures with bright glowing eyes filled with mal intent, there was simply a large terrifying one. The creature shifted and undulated, a great mass of shadows and darkness, and it's only focus, purpose seemed to be to get Alice's window open and get inside. The window pane creaked under the stress of the creature's attentions as well as the pressure that was being placed on it from the inside, with iron barrier attempting to keep it at bay. The more furious the creature became in its actions the more Alice's sleep was troubled. The iron trinkets seemed to be harming it, it didn't appear to care much for the light they were admitting either, but not enough to deter it. Trapped in a sort of trance like state of… was it shock, or maybe disbelief? Gigi didn't know but whatever it was, it had her rooted to the spot, mouth agape.

Then the creature's eyes fell upon her. The undulating mass locked eyes with Gigi; teeth bared it appeared to be snarling at her. In that moment, a fire burst into being within her chest, setting fire to her blood and knocking her out of trance. Her sense of fury rising with each passing second, Gigi stepped forward into the room, returning the animalistic gaze of the creature beyond the window with one of steel fire and resolution.

"Get the hell away from my house." Gigi stated, a calm fury having taken hold of her very being. The creature roared at her through the window, slamming its collective hand against the window, causing the whole thing to shake under its weight and force. Gigi's hand passed over the light switch, illuminating the room; the creature screamed out, in pain or in fury she wasn't sure, but as it's yell echoed through the glass pane, Alice sat bolt upright shrieking from her most recent nightmare. Gigi watched as the creature turned and fled off into the dark shadows of the night, she didn't even notice when Conall had entered the room or when he'd walked over to the bed in an attempt to calm Alice. Eventually like the nights prior, they managed to calm Alice long enough to get her to drift off back into a strained state of sleep. Once she was sure Alice had nodded off Gigi turned her attention fully back to the window, catching Conall's attention as well. As they stood there, neither needing to say anything to the other in that moment, for the evidence on the outer sill was enough. The deep claw marks and gashes in the wood told the story of how every night that creature came, every night it came back strong and tried harder, more determined with each passing day. Gigi sat on the edge of Alice's bed, gentling tucking a loose curl behind her ear and lightly brushing away the trails of fearful tears.

"Nothing's going to harm you, not while I'm around. I will do everything in my power to keep you safe. I promise."

* * *

><p>It was an overcast Saturday morning and Gigi could barely keep her crimson curls out of her coffee. Conall watched as her head would dip ever closer to the scalding liquid, only to jerk back up a moment later.<p>

"Hon," he called softly as he approached her. "Maybe you should go lay down for a while?"

Gigi absentmindedly shook her head, sighing, "I'm fine."

"No you're not. You're drinking coffee, you're never fine when you drink coffee." Conall stated pointedly as he grabbed himself a cup and took a seat next to his wife. "Was last night really that bad?"

"Not for Alice, thankfully." Gigi rubbed her eyes. With what she had witnessed the night prior, Gigi had resolved to stay with Alice while she slept, though she wasn't sure what she'd do about the beast she was certainly going to make sure that Alice would have a goodnights rest. After she'd come home from school she had practically run her into the ground doing things around the house in an attempt to exhaust her. She'd then convinced her to take a bath to relax, filling the tub with lavender suds, and just before bed had handed her a cup of sleepy time tea with honey. Normally Alice would have pushed the cup aside, not being a fan of most hot beverages, but Gigi's plan had worked and between the physical and mental fatigue Alice had accepted the cup readily and was out mere moments later. Conall had had to carry her upstairs to her room, and after tucking her in, Gigi had stayed next to her the whole night, keeping vigil next to the sleeping girl. As she had thought the creature came back; she had placed a few more small iron trinkets on the window and though they seemed to help, the creature was still intent on getting through the window, it's howls of determination still rang in Gigi's ears as she stared into her sepia colored reflection in her cup.

"Sweetie you can't keep going like this. Staying up is only going to wear you out as much as Alice."

"What am I supposed to do? That thing is going to keep coming back. Have you seen the window? The sill on the other side is almost completely torn away, even with the added iron last night, that thing is going to make it in soon. And what do we do then?" Gigi's head dropped as Conall rubbed her back.

"I promised them both I'd keep her safe."

"Hey now, we both promised. And we're both doing just that. We'll figure something out, don't worry."

"But what if we don't Conall? What are we going to do when that thing gets in? It's not even a matter of if now, it's a matter of when. Whatever that thing is, it's here for her, how are we suppose to stop it if we don't even know what it is? We're running out of options and the only one I can think of is- I can't do that to her, I couldn't do that!"

"Hey now," Conall pulled her close, shushing her as he placed a kiss on her forehead. "I know but it's okay, we'll… we'll think of something. We'll consider that much later if it comes to that, but for now, we'll keep doing the best that we can okay? Come on now, let's go get-" he was interrupted by a loud bang upstairs. The pair looked at each other confusion etched across their faces. Both of the boys had stayed over at friends houses last night so their usual shenanigans were immediately out of the question for the cause.

"Is Alice upstairs?" Conall asked standing, heading for the stairs.

"No," Gigi was right on his heels, "She went over to Ilex's house, to help her with something." Another loud bang resounded from the second floor, this time shaking the very house. Both bolted upstairs, following the banging to Alice's room, coming to an abrupt halt in the door way. Gigi's hands flew up to her mouth in an attempt to force back the scream that was threatening to tear loose from her throat.

Though Gigi had told him about the creature, nothing could have prepared Conall for the sight before him; a roiling mass of rage and determination hovered before the window of Alice's bedroom, malice etched on its shadowy face, it's sharp teeth bared and ferocious claws at the ready, slamming one after another at the base of the window continuing the work it had done the night before.

"W-w-what- Is that the thing that-" Conall could barely fine his voice. Glancing over at Gigi he saw her paled and shaking, hands still clamped firmly over her mouth, a small terrified nod was the only answer she gave. The creature roared, howling as it worked furiously at the window, as if time were running out for it, then by some moment that could only be called a miracle, sunlight split through a patch of clouds making its way over the forest, across the back yard, flooding the backside of the house, showering the creature in pure sunlight. At this the creature howled in pain as it fell into smaller strangely shaped shadows, scurrying away from the window, all fleeing, most expiring in the unforgiving light in the back yard, but a small handful, obviously stronger than the others, made it inside the dimly lit woods behind the house.

The house sat in an all consuming eerie silence. Sunlight continued to break through the clouds, here and there, chasing off the overcast clouds and brightening everything but the mood within the house. Gigi slowly slid down the door frame, ending in a slump on the floor, hands falling to her lap, as Conall went slack against the other side of the frame, shaken where he stood unsure of what he'd seen. The two pairs of weary eyes sought out each other and upon meeting they shared a similar feeling of defeat and overwhelming distress. As they continued to look at each other, both could tell that though they would hate the decision they would have to strongly consider now, their hands had been forced and there was nothing more they could do.

* * *

><p>"Alice! Hurry up now! Willis will be here soon!"<p>

"Coming!" Alice called from upstairs. She stood in her room, giving herself a once over in the mirror. She spun around once more in her dress, and couldn't help but crack a smile. Gigi's pick had been by far the best; it was a simple dress, 50's style, tight fitting bodice, dainty cap sleeves, cinched, tiny waist and full skirt that stopped just above her knees. The deep red was gorgeous and looked absolutely lovely on her, a simple black sash accentuated the waist making it look even smaller and trailed down the back of the skirt just right. They had scrounged around and found an adorable pair of black pumps to go with the dress and to finish off everything Alice had made sure to make it back from Ilex's to give Gigi enough time to wrestle her hair into a style reminiscent of victory curls in the front and sweet loose curls in the back. The whole look was perfect and for once Alice was actually excited to go to a school dance.

"Alice he's here!" Georgie called from the bottom of the stairs.

"Okay!" Alice gave a last sprits of her body spray, a quick check of the very simplistic makeup job she'd done before dashing out of her room and down the stairs.

Willis was standing just in the entry way when she came downstairs and into view, and his jaw nearly hit the floor; she looked stunning, his mind quickly tried to find another moment when he had possibly seen her dressed up and quickly found none. This wasn't the first time he'd ever seen her in a dress before but it was the first time he'd ever seen her like _this_ in a dress. Alice blushed as she caught him staring, the both of them shuffling awkwardly as Gigi and Conall looked on.

"Well come on, hurry up and stand over there so we can get pictures over with and you guys can get going." Conall interjected after letting the awkward moment stretch out a second longer than necessary. At first the pictures threatened to be a set of those awkward teenage photos where the subjects stand a polite distance away from each other, hands pinned to sides, showing about as much emotion as a depression era snapshot. And that's how the first two were until Alice felt Willis' hand on her shoulder, she glanced up to see him smiling down at her, just as he pulled her into a hug. The gesture made her laugh, as he brought her close, occasionally tickling her to get her to smile even broader for the camera, at one moment stopping to whisper just behind her ear, "You look really lovely tonight."

That last moment caught her off guard, pivoting to get a better look at his face, she heard the distant click of Conall's camera as her eyes locked with his, as a small sort of realization began to form and blossom just at the back of her mind.

"Alright you two," Gigi's voice interrupted Alice's thoughts. "You had best be going, I'm sure the others are getting tired of waiting out in the car."

"No ma'am, just us Mrs. Toomey. Everyone else is driving separately. But," Willis continued turning back to Alice. "She's right we should get going. You know before you change your mind or something."

"I bought a dress and high heels, I doubt I'm changing my mind good sir." Alice teased right back. Gigi and Conall gave the generic parental spill about driving safe and being back before too late and having a good time as the two teens finally made their way out the door and down the walk. Willis' dad had let him borrow his car, and just before he opened the door he paused as if just remembering something.

"I got you something." His grin was wide, but not his usual cheeky one, this one was completely genuine. As they stood at the curb he reached inside his pocket, producing a closed fist, holding it out waiting for her hands to come beneath it to catch whatever it was it held.

"I didn't really have time to wrap it but you know, it's the thought that counts right?" Alice felt something weighty fall into her cupped hands and as Willis moved his from over top of hers, she saw in her hands amongst a small nest of leather cording, a pendent. It was about the size of half dollar, but looked like antique silver. The most stunning part was the detailed carving of a wolfs face staring back at her, the boarder surrounding the pendent held small blue stones, one at the top and bottom and one on each side.

"I can't accept this!"

"Sure you can."

"No, Willis, this is… I can't I-"

"Will it help if I say it wasn't expensive?"

"Where did you get this?"

"Now if I told you, it would hardly be a surprise right?" His smile was met with questioning eyes, causing him to scuff at the ground with the toe of his shoe. "My family, well, it's a long story. Could you, maybe, just accept it for me, with the promise that I'll tell you the story behind it later? Is that too much to ask right now?"

Alice heard the earnest tone of his voice, and for a moment felt bad for questioning the gift.

"Would you do me the honor?" was her answer as she handed him back the necklace, turning around and pulling her hair to the side. And as she felt the weight of it settle against her skin and the faint tug of the cord around her neck, something about it felt comforting and just right. As she turned back to ask him how it looked, her eyes caught movement farther down the sidewalk. Approaching at a rather lazy speed was Abigail, her mother was ahead of her, on the phone while walking the dog, chatting along as her daughter dragged behind her. And while Abigail's mother simply smiled politely and gave a quick little wave as she continued on, Abigail and Alice's eyes met, and in that brief moment it seemed as if in the time that she'd been out of school Abigail's mood had changed significantly. Though her face was blank except for the slightest traces of contempt, her eyes told a story of nights that may have been just as dogged and restless as Alice's had. But, as brief moments usually are, it was over before Alice could think any more of it; Willis had opened the door for her and had helped her into the car, closing it and rounding the car before hoping in himself and pulling away from the curb. But something had seemed odd about Abigail, and the curiosity of it threatened to take hold of her, consume her thoughts for the whole evening, and it might have too, if she hadn't, at that moment felt Willis take her hand in his as they headed down the road.

* * *

><p>Jareth's mood with those around him had vaguely improved, though he hadn't seen a reason in letting them know this. Instead he had once again decided to take leave of the Underground and venture to the Above, in search of his latest quarry. It had not taken him long to find her; his owl form swooped over the parking lot of the school, coming to rest on a light post as he watched the boy she was often with help her out of a vehicle, and offer her his arm as they jovially made their way towards the building front. And as he watched them go, he saw the closeness of their proximity to one another, the way they laughed and joked with one another, and the way the boy often glanced at her so intently; he'd be damned if he simply remained outside, watching, this night.<p>

Getting inside had been easy enough, a simple cast of invisibility around him had been more than sufficient. He followed so other students down the hallway and into a large open auditorium that had been decorated for the night's festivities. Balloons were tied everywhere and streamers were hung about as well. Glittered confetti speckled small tables that held snacks and punch, while other tables simply had center pieces that exploded strands of iridescent stars and sparks. But most of these tables were empty, patiently keeping charge of forgotten snacks and punch cups while the chairs around them had been used to hold the jackets and purses of students who were dancing in the center of the room. It was near one of the occupied tables he found his girl.

The room was crowded, loud and distracting, what with all of the students, music and lights flashing here and there, but he had found her just the same. His Alice stood next to that boy, his arm casually placed around her waist as they stood by and chatted with their group of friends. She looked positively intriguing in her dress, the simplicity of her makeup accenting her already relatively exotic features, but the most grating thing was when she kept casting a glance back to the eyes of the boy who stood beside her. He would stand for it no longer.

As Jareth approached them he took on a glamour disguising himself as a modern teenager; his wild hair tamed and cropped short, his features now more youthful according mortal standards, his clothes still dark but semi formal to match those around him. The perfect guise for the environment, so Jareth was slightly unnerved when he felt a hand clasp his shoulder, gripping it decisively, halting him in his tracks. He turned and came face to face with his cousin, in a similar glamour, looking less than amused.

"How did I know I'd find you here?"

"What is it you want cousin?"  
>"Nothing," He said, removing his hand. Though it did not show on his face, Jareth was confused by his cousin's actions.<p>

"Nothing? What, no chastising, no lectures, just nothing?"

"What would you have me do?" He merely shrugged. "If I advise you against something you never listen to me. The more passionate I am about it the more it seems to drive you towards it, so why bother, hmm?"

"So why are you here?"

"Well, if I can't stop you, I might as well make sure that if you're going to do something possibly stupid that you don't make it into something completely idiotic."

"Oh?"

"Yes and well, I might as well have some fun myself right?" though Derrick's grin was mischievous, Jareth was cautious about his cousin being here. "What?"

"I find this hard to believe of you cousin."

"Believe what you want Jareth I-" as his word halted, Jareth saw the attention in Derrick's eyes dart elsewhere, somewhere over his shoulder. Turning he found them tracking movements of a girl in a short Grecian styled dress of soft pewter, and though her massive mane of curls had been clamped down at the base of her neck with an ornamented clasp, her sheer height marked her as Alice's Amazonian friend he'd seen in days past.

"Oh my dearest cousin," Jareth said, not bothering to mask his mocking tone. "Has thou fancy been caught by some _mere mortal_ girl?"

His cousin's choice of words was not lost on Derrick, but he'd get him back for them later, at the present moment he was quite curious about this young lady not far from them.

"Judge me not cousin, we've shared many a night of pursuit, and as you've said before, what should it matter that she mortal." Jareth watched as his cousin disappeared into the throng of students, mingling in, as he made his way around so he could approach the girl from behind. It was an approach they had both used often enough before, a slight tap on the arm would be next, an offering of a hand and an ask to join in a dance. Jareth, frankly, didn't care about his cousin's pursuit, it only benefitted him more that there'd be one less pair of eyes to distract if he were to get any time with his own interest. But his eyes turned back to the table he noticed that the two had left behind the others, and after a quick pan found them popping in and out of the massive sea of students ebbing and flowing to the beat of the music.

The night quickly became an aggravating one for Jareth. He wasn't sure how, but the pair always seemed just out of reach, or if he spotted her alone she wasn't that way for long, that infernal boy would reappear and sweep her away, if not him, one of her friends. And if it weren't for the words of Derrick playing over in his head, he might have done something rash and idiotic in order to get what he wanted. As for his aforementioned cousin, he seemed to be having a swell time with his Alice's friend.

At the moment when he barely stand it any longer, he finally saw her over by the snack table, alone. Like a shark, he made a line for her only to have his path intercepted by none other than his cousin.

"There you are cousin!" He took hold of his shoulders, amusement painted over his face. "I've been looking everywhere for you! That girl! She's highly amusing, quite interesting actually; I think I may be starting to see why you've chosen to venture up here, the young women up here definitely have more intriguing qualities. Speaking of which where's your girl gone to?"

Derrick glanced about curiously only to have his face fall when his eyes returned to Jareth's face.

"What?"

Pinching the bridge of his nose Jareth bit back the urge to strangle his cousin. In the time he'd gotten his attention, she had once again disappeared, leaving Jareth at his most annoyed he'd been all night.

"If I didn't know any better Derrick, I'd think you were doing this on purpose."

"What? You don't mean to tell me you've yet to get your hands on the girl? What's wrong with you tonight? Is the new environment throwing you off so much?"

"Shut up!" Jareth snipped. He wasn't in the mood for his cousin's teasing, harmless or no, he was in a foul humor about all that had transpired, and as if to add salt to the wound, not only had his Alice wandered off but it seemed as though she had completely disappeared from the room. He could find her in no corner, and not amongst the churning mass of her peers; the same, unfortunately, could be said for her companion as well. Very rarely did Jareth end a night's "pursuit" empty handed, but he had resigned a temporary truce on the matter for the night, for he would never admit defeat, and simply come at it with a new plan of attack on the morrow.

"Hey, wh- where are you going?"

"Home." He stated resolutely.

"Already? But what about-"

"Do what you will with your time, I am not about to waste mine further. Continue in your wooing of your quarry, bed her too for all I care, I'm done here for tonight." Derrick held back, noticing Jareth's mood darkening as he spoke. He'd be fine in the morning, Derrick surmised as he turned his eyes back to the crowd in search of his own "pursuit", and besides just because he was in a sour temper it didn't mean Derrick couldn't have any fun.

The seething Goblin King stalked pass all the young mortals, making his way to the door, his glamour shifting back to invisibility as he returned to his normal form. As he crossed the threshold of the door, he spotted two figures coming towards him. His Alice, hand in hand with the boy named Willis, and as they walked pass him, without his doing, time seemed to slow just enough for him to see more than enough. The interlaced fingers as they held hands, the way this boy's eyes sought out hers, her thick dark lashes hiding her grey eyes as she turned her face from him in an attempt to hide the blush that was creeping into her cheeks, the smile they both shared. Time regained its composure as the couple passed him by, just as Alice placed her head on the boy's shoulder, and with his anger reaching a dangerous peak, the Goblin King transported himself back to the Underground, with fire in his eyes and clenched fists.

* * *

><p>Alice didn't see Gigi when she came into the house that night. Her mind was all a flutter with the events of the evening. She didn't notice the faint light coming from her office as she lightly padded up the stairs, shoes in hand. She was oblivious to everything as she shut the door to her room, sweeping about it as she changed into her night shirt, scrubbed the make up from her face. Even as she plopped on to her bed to brush her hair, all she noticed was the faint humming that was coming from somewhere in her chest as her mind played the night over and over again.<p>

A soft rapping at the door alerted her to the red headed woman who now stood in the door frame.

"May I come in?"

"Yes!"

"So, how was the dance?"

"Worth it! You're right, I'm glad I went." Gigi smiled softly as she sat behind Alice, taking the brush from her hands and sitting it in her lap as she removed the last few pins Alice had missed from her hair.

"So it was worth it after all hmm?"

"Yep!" Alice grinned to herself, as Gigi began brushing her hair, yawning as the gentle tugging of the brush began to sooth her body and mind.

"Well, you'll certainly have to tell me all about it sometime."

"Definitely, first thing in the morning! Promise!" Gigi was thankful for Alice having her back to her, so she could not see the faint wince that came over the older woman's face.

"Yes," she began as she put on a faint smile, turning Alice to face her now. "Tell me all about it in the morning. For now, bed time, alright?"

"Okay." Alice yawned again, before throwing her arms around her godmother's neck. "Goodnight Gigi."

"Sweet dreams Alice." She squeezed the young girl as she hugged her back. Kissing her on the forehead, she stood to leave the room; pausing at the door she waited until Alice was comfortable under the covers before she turned off the light and closed the door behind her.

* * *

><p>Jareth was draped rather unceremoniously over his throne when Derrick found him. All goblins who had any sense left in their tiny addled heads had been up and long gone by now, not wishing to be in the path of their ill tempered monarch. The scowl on his face was nothing compared to the anger boiling in his eyes; one hand absently maneuvering crystal orbs while the other kept a steady drumming rhythm on his knee, his mind far away from his body.<p>

"So how were your festivities." That he had noticed him at all was what had taken Derrick by surprise, his tone was laced with venom, his question anything but.

"Well enough." Derrick ventured. "How are you…"

"Doing? Feeling?" Jareth's head turned, in a very cat like manner, his eyes locking on to Derrick. "Pray tell cousin, where are you planning on taking this questioning?"

Before Derrick could hazard an answer Jareth turned away from him, and back to his prior thoughts, so Derrick assumed, until his voice came once again.

"Make no mistake cousin, tonight's 'mishaps' have done nothing to persuade me away from my goal. Quite the contrary in fact, it has done nothing more than convince me that I may need to apply a more direct approach."

"Jareth, are you trying to say I had something to do with what happened tonight?"

"Derrick I know you," Jareth glanced over his shoulder. "For you to be able to pull off a level of such trickery, the amount of planning needed for it, far overtaxes your abilities."

"Well gee, thanks." Derrick loathed the underhanded jab, mostly for its unnecessary nature.

"You know," Derrick began, his own temper now starting to stir. "No one made you go after this girl, no one encouraged you, enticed you, or even dared or bribed you. If you're looking for someone to blame for your shortcomings tonight, you've only got yourself."

"Oh is that so?" Jareth rolled off of the throne and to his feet with feline grace and advanced towards his cousin. "And how exactly did your night turn out? You seem as unruffled as when your unwelcome self first appeared tonight, did your plans turn sour or did she not live up to your expectations?"

"Taunt me all you want Jareth, you're the only one here not a step closer to what it is he wants."

Derrick's last comment had hit home. He saw the fire raising up to full force in his cousin's eyes as his face became stone, un-moveable and unreadable. Just as his mouth began to open, it snapped shut again as a great tolling of strange and eerie bells began to ring throughout the castle, vibrating the very walls. Derrick knew this sound well, he had learned it quickly when he first came to stay with his cousin, it was a summons to the Above. A wished away child.

Derrick watched as Jareth stepped back from him, magic swirling around him cloaking him in dark clothes and a cape of pure night. Any mortal who looked upon him now would see before them a looming force and impending danger; coupled with his current foul temper, Derrick hoped, as his cousin vanished from the throne room, that whoever had called upon him was ready for what they had wrought, for this night, there was no way the Goblin King would show any mercy.

* * *

><p>When Jareth materialized he found himself in a dark hallway, the occasional flash of lightning from the storm that had arrived with him illuminating the small space.<p>

Immediately before him was the shape of what he assumed was a woman, sitting on the floor legs pulled close to her, head hidden in her knees, hands somewhere in her lap. Just to his left stood a closed door, to which he was certain gave access to the room of the wished away child.

Looking back to the floor he gazed down at the figure before him and noticed her slightly rocking, the occasional muffled sniff coming from somewhere within the bundled up shape.

"Do you know who I am?" his voice was cold and vicious. The woman slowly lifted her head just enough for him to make out part of her face, a quiet nod was her only reply.

"Then you know what you ask." Another nod, her eyes shifting away refusing to look at him.

"Would you run for the child." He watched as the woman hesitated, before slowly shaking her head no; a flash of lightning illuminating faint reddish curls. Jareth felt a surge of disgust at her refusal, humans so willingly wished away their child, many before had refused their chance to win back a wished away child and it had done nothing more than to add to his disgust of humans from the Above. So quick to make their decisions while those below were cursed to go without, how willing they were to be rid of something so precious, it infuriated him, and his agitation only grew with each passing summons.

"So be it." His final words rang out as a surge of magic pulsed through the house, coating everything as it went. The door to his left blew open, striding into the room Jareth turned towards the bed to collect the child; what he saw before him set his anger that night to new heights as he and the wished away were swept up in the magic, disappearing back to the Underground.

* * *

><p>Conall stepped out into the hallway to find Gigi sitting in a ball next to Alice's door.<p>

"Hon?" Conall knelt beside her, resting a comforting hand on her shaking shoulders. "Genevieve talk to me?"

Gigi lifted her head slowly, eyes red and swelling from all the tears, in her hands the two decorative cast iron scissors that had once sat on either side of Alice's window. Tears continued to flood down her face as a ragged sob found its way from her throat, over her lips. Hands shaking she turned to look at Conall.

"What have I done?" came the tortured voice, barely a whisper. Emotion tore loose from within her chest, the weight of everything that had happened feeling like a crushing blow to her whole being. The ornaments fell from her hands, hitting the wood floor with solid thuds as she threw her arms around the neck of her husband, her whole body wracked with sobs and coughing.

"What have I done? Oh God, Conall, what have I done?" All Conall could do was pull his wife close, gathering her up in his arms, holding her tight and try to comfort her. But no comfort would come, for they both knew the weight of what had come to pass, and though in the morning they may try to convince themselves it was for the best, that it was all they had left that they could do, the tortured words from that night in the hallway would haunt them, ringing in their ears like a tolling bell.

"What have I done?"

* * *

><p>The labyrinth at night was an interesting creature to witness, its shifting movements similar to the ebb and flow of the ocean; sometimes Derrick found it soothing, tonight wasn't one of those nights. He had resigned himself to waiting up for Jareth to return from his summons Above; how long the wait he wasn't sure, but he'd spent many a late before doing other things, simply sitting and waiting wouldn't be so bad.<p>

As he leaned against the window frame, his mind left the throne room, roaming back to earlier in the evening, back to the strange and fascinating girl he'd met that night. Though he would loathe to admit it to Jareth, there was something different in this girl than others he'd met before Underground and it was making her more desirable the more the he dwelled on her. It wasn't her beauty that had him hooked, though it had been enough for him to come in for a closer look, she was far more intriguing than that; beauty was abundant in the Underground, in Fae and Human alike, no she had a spark that had drawn him in like a moth to a flame. She was far more rambunctious, tenacious even, but more over she seemed as though just below the surface sat a strength that cued his curiosity even more. She was no mere waif like some of the Fae women he saw about his everyday life, no she was something more.

But it didn't matter, the thought eliciting a sigh from him. He'd almost instantly curbed his fascination with her, fighting his instincts, refusing to get too invested, knowing the consequences for his actions, and that they'd be much greater and more painful for her in the long run. He'd even gone as far to make sure that she didn't know his name and that, in turn, he never asked for hers. Though the pursuit would have been interesting he couldn't bring himself to be okay with the lack of interest he knew he'd experience later on. Besides times had changed, and it wasn't like one could simply spirit themselves Above and run off with a mortal lass simply because one felt inclined to do so; personally he'd never really much cared for the idea of it and was rather glad it had fallen out of fashion.

Derrick's mind was brought back as he felt the familiar rush of magic that surrounded his cousin on nights like these begin to flood back into the throne room. He turned watching, expecting the flood of magic sparks in the center of the throne room to produce his cousin; as he watched on, they swirled and danced around, creating a small cyclone of shimmering light, picking up speed and becoming brighter, before dissipating, as though someone had exhaled heavily, sending glittery bits across the floor, vanishing as though they'd never been there.

Still as the night, lay a figure in the center of the floor, the only inclination of the being before Derrick actually being alive were the faint steady breaths that came with sleep. Tilting his head with faint interest, Derrick pondered the most recent wished away, wondering what their story was, and how much, if at all, would it vary from the others. His thoughts stalled however, when the wished away rolled over, revealing the all too familiar face he'd seen over the past few days. Another wave of magic churned up as a second cyclone of sparks welled up in the center of the throne room, this time producing Jareth once it dissipated. But Derrick couldn't bring himself to care, his jaw nearly grazing the floor as he stared on at the sleeping figure before him. The path that his eyes took from the sleeping girl to Jareth's face must have occurred at least a dozen times before his mind had finally broken loose from the shock. The girl before him… the girl named Alice… was here, in the Underground… what had Jareth…

"W-what have – _What have you done_!?"

* * *

><p>WOOOO! We did it! We finally made it Underground! Oh my goodness, so... much... effort! But it's okay because you guys are still reading and that makes it even more worth it! Fret not though, there will be more to come (hopefully sooner than this chapter came out but you know, do what you can, right?)<p>

Comment, review, what ever you like guys! And as always thanks again for sticking around! :)


	14. Crashes and Burns

_Hey guys! It's definitely been a while since my last update! Between life, school, and work, I've had a lot on my plate, and of course I didn't want to put out a chapter that felt rushed. That was some days ago, but that aside, since it's Spring Break and I finally have some time I decided to get it up here and get it done. SO... without any more blabbing here is the new chapter! Hope you all enjoy it! _

* * *

><p>"<em>What have you done!?" <em>A voice called from somewhere. Where? Alice wasn't sure.

The last clear coherent thought Alice remembered having was realizing she'd climbed into bed with Willis's necklace still on, how Gigi would fuss at her for falling asleep with something around her neck, and that she should probably get up before she completely passed out and place it on her nightstand. However, that had not taken place; comparing the sensation that had overcome her to a wave would have made it less alarming, no this had been more like a freight train of intense fatigue that had made her hand cease reaching for the nightstand light, dropping like a dead moose to the mattress. The most alarming thing had been the brief moment of the sense of the inability to move before she'd been completely consumed by the need to sleep.

That was the sensation that threatened to not relinquish its hold of her now as she lay… here. Her whole being felt like lead, her lids even refused to open; keeping calm was the only option, though it wasn't going very well for her at the moment. She attempted to gather her thoughts or something, anything to take her mind off of her simply laying here dead limbs.

Here?

Where was _here_ anyway? The more she tried to focus on things, the more the sense of dead weight seemed to recede. _Okay then Alice, where are we?_ As she asked herself she realized her shoulder felt sore, as did her hip, whatever she was laying on, it wasn't her mattress and it was nowhere near being soft like one. Maybe she'd simply fallen out of bed in the middle of the night? Perhaps from another weird dream that she wouldn't remember upon waking? _Oh God, I hope I'm not screaming, I hope I'm not waking up the house with that again._

So she was on the floor, well a floor? Her floor had carpet, this floor had none and felt, rough? Like stone tiles? _What the heck did I roll down the stairs and end up in the kitchen? _The heavy sensation was fading more and more as she tried to think, but having clear thoughts was becoming harder and harder with all that noise. Noise? No, someone was arguing, it didn't sound like Gigi and Conall, she'd never heard them argue before, no these voices were different, both male, and she hadn't heard them before, they were the ones arguing. Well, if arguing was what you could call it, it would have been more accurate to say that one person was arguing while the other simply wasn't going to hear any of it or at least grace any of the questions with a response of more than a few words laced with a starched sense of ambivalence.

"What have you done- Have you even thought about what you've done Jareth?" Jareth? Now why did that name sound even vaguely familiar? Finally Alice's attempts to move were being rewarded, though sluggish she was able to shift her arms slowly until they weren't by her sides but closer to her center. She was going to stand up. This was going to happen whether the rest of her was ready or not. Her eyelids dragged themselves open slow as you please as she began her attempt to move vertically. Unbeknownst to her the voices had hushed at the first notice of her movements; as Alice sat herself upright she was railroaded once again by an overbearing sensation, this time of immense dizziness. _Okay , well, looks like standing will just have to wait._

Everything before her swam in a sea of sepia tones, the two figures before her, dark colored ameba wriggling right along with everything else.

Jareth was surprised to see her revive so quickly, it wasn't uncommon for those who were wished away to spend weeks in a deep magic induced sleep before they finally stirred, depending on the amount of magic used to bring them and other such circumstances. The fact that she was moving mere moments after being brought underground was rather curious indeed. A fact that complicated things, he thought as his face became an unreadable mask; he hadn't planned on introducing her to her new surroundings in the middle of his throne room, a far more controllable venue would have been devised of course, but that, as it seemed, couldn't be help now.

If he were to be completely honest with himself, somewhere deep down in the recesses of his conscience Jareth could admit that he probably should have felt guilty for the rather selfish silver lining that had started taking root in the back of his mind. Though he'd never admit it, he knew Derrick had been right when in his previous appeals to Jareth's better judgment he had mentioned the practice of taking, forcing women from the Above in to the Underground was long ago considered out dated and rather barbaric. They both knew that it still happened, on the rarest of occasions, from time to time, one from the Above maybe 'convinced' Underground; a simple spell here, some conning words there, trickery and cunning was the real name of the game. So the fact that he no longer had to worry about finding a way to trick her in to willingly coming with him below, well that had worked in his favor. But another part of him, a rather large part for that matter, was more than furious at the fact that it had to be this way that she had come to be in his possession.

As her eyes finally came into focus, Alice locked eyes with the figure closest to her. Tall and darkly dressed, from the angle at which she now sat, he seemed almost too tall, impossibly tall. Most of his figure was hidden behind a dark cloak that flowed seamlessly from his shoulders down to the floor, his fair skin and hair a sharp contrast to the nocturnal color scheme he'd donned. Their gaze never broke as he approached; kneeling before her, he brought his face close, his gaze burning into hers and then he spoke.

"Do you know where you are?" at this distance Alice noticed how sharp and refined the features of his face were, but something seemed off about the whole thing, too well put together, too sharp, too defined, unnaturally so. She said nothing in return, simply giving a slow shake of the head for her response.

"You're in the Castle beyond the Goblin City, my castle." He stated as he rose. He extended his hand towards her. "Stand up."

Alice looked at the gloved hand before her, the blank stare on her face would have made one think she'd never seen a hand before, but at that moment the thought of standing seemed so ridiculous, especially with the myriad of thoughts setting off alarm bells at the back of her mind. Castle beyond the Goblin City? Why did this sound so familiar? Turing her gaze back to his, she shook her head again, managing to croak a rather feeble sounding, "I can't."

But the man before her obviously wasn't satisfied with that as an answer, for he leaned forward, and taking hold of her hand proceeded to pull her to her feet. Alice had been somewhat right however, whatever consolation that gave, as her legs buckled beneath her, causing him to release her hand and steady her in his arms. She should have been made uncomfortable by this, but his shifting arms had caused more of his cloak to open, revealing his torso, but more importantly, a pendant that hung from his neck. The design of it seemed familiar as well, which only served to add to the cacophony inside of her skull. She couldn't stop staring at it, why did that blasted thing seem so familiar?

"Do you know who I am?" His voice broke through the thoughts vying for her attention just long enough for her to tear her eyes away from the pendant and bring them to his face again.

"I…" Dear God the mess inside her head! It was starting to become too much. She could barely form a sentence or heck an actual thought aside from the ones running rampant in her head. Her mind was desperately trying to make sense of … of… something. Of everything.

"I am the Goblin King," He started, as her brain was still grasping for those final straws. "And I rule over the Goblin City here at the center of my Labyrinth."

Labyrinth. Labyrinth? _Labyrinth!? _ Her mind had finally found the thing it was looking for as all the thoughts began to cease their whooshing about and began to settle into a nice little stack within her brain.

_The Labyrinth, that book, that book I read was called the Labyrinth. 'The castle beyond the Goblin City, at the center of the Labyrinth', that's what it had said in the book._ That made sense, the scenes were piecing themselves back together based on what she had read. _The Goblin King, named… what? Jareth? Yes, Jareth, so he's the Goblin King? _ That had explained the pendant, there had been an illustration of it in the book. _Wait, what did he do, in the story? He ruled the city and … and …_ What else was it, this was important she knew what else was there? '_Return the child which you've stolen'… The child! The little boy from the story, the Goblin King had taken him, and brought him to his castle and kept him there for most of the story. He'd taken him because… because…_ Everything within her mind was screaming at her to remember, yearning for her to remember, she just had to, because if she didn't, oh God if she didn't. _Jareth had taken the child because of Sarah… because Sarah had… wished him away._

"Wished away?" came the barely audible mumble from Alice's mouth. Jareth had watched as her brow had furrowed with thought, with confusion, and now it seemed that just as the last touches of magic were leaving her body, an epiphany had sparked, causing her head to snap up, meeting his eyes once again.

"Wished away?" She said again, this time louder her brows knitted together with uncertainty. Suddenly she lurched backwards, wiggling her way out of his arms, away from him, landing with gracelessly on her butt on the stone floor. "No."

"You've figured it out then? Yes, you were wished-"

"No!" Jareth was not the only one taken aback by her outburst, though Jareth was able to keep his features schooled, Derrick stood there dumbfounded; he couldn't think of the last time someone had raised their voice towards Jareth, other than himself of course, and in his cousin's current state he wasn't how sure his temper would handle it.

"Look," Jareth began, picking at a seam on one of his gloves. "I realize that this must be hard for you to understand. But what you must come to realize is-"

"No!" This time it came out more like a hiss. Derrick watched as this Alice squared her shoulders, stiffened her spine and locked eyes with his cousin. He'd seen looks like this a hundred times over with Jareth, it screamed stubborn.

"You're wrong."

"I assure you, you'll find, I'm not."

As Alice sat there on the cold floor, staring down this strange man before her, claiming to be the Goblin King, her mind began to whir again. This couldn't be real, it had to be another messed up dream, like that first one she had, the one about the Beldam. She tried to focus, but it was no use.

_So tired._ Tired wasn't even close, exhausted was more like it, the thought occurred to her as she began rubbing her face in agitation. She was so tired with everything, these messed up dreams, life at school, dealing with Principal Whitaker and Abigail. And now, she was dreaming of being wished away? She knew she had an overactive imagination, and sometimes it did effect her sleep, but she had read that book weeks ago, so what sense did it make for it to be affecting her now.

_Wished away? Who would even bother to wish me away? Who'd waste a wish on me?_ _Wait a minute…_

"Who?"

"Pardon?" Slight curiousity was still peaking Jareth's interest, as he observed her. Her body was still struggling against the hold of the magic around her, but there was something deeper going on with this girl.

"Who did it? You said I was wished away, who did it?" her tone was still one of disbelief, but now a sliver of apathy was beginning to creep its way into her words.

"I bet it was Abigail." She muttered mostly to herself, laughing at the irony of someone who openly mocked her for her reading of fairy tales to actually believe in them themselves.

"No, it was your guardian." Jareth stated rather dismissively, his outward expression hiding his inner disdain for the woman.

"My guardian?" Alice's musings screeched to a halt. "What did you say?"

"It was your guardian who wished you away-"

"Gigi?!"

"I don't much care for being continuously interrupted." But the warning in both his look and tone were lost on Alice as a wave of new emotions surged forth.

"Gigi? You expect me to believe that Gigi would do this?" The look on his face, clearly answered yes. "You're wrong."

"As I've said before, I'm not."

"Gigi would never, she's the one who told me all sorts of stories about 'The Goblin King' and things like that, she saw me with the book. Wish me away? There's no way she would do something like that."

"I don't know what relationship you think you had with this Gigi, but obviously it was not nearly as close of one as you would appear to think. She's the one who wished you away. You can't change that."

"You're lying."

"I'm doing no such-"

"You're lying! It's not true-"

"I suggest you watch your tone, for you'll not get away with it for much longer." His voice was low, his eyes dark, the warning more obvious now. The room felt colder as he focused his gaze on hers, sizing her up, his eyes baring down; even his body language had changed, no longer was he standing there with a casual indifference, now it would appear that there was something dangerous lying just beneath the cool collected surface.

"You'll find I'm not lying. Your precious Gigi, she is the one who wished you away, and the sooner you accept that, the better off you'll be."

Alice said nothing in response, she refused to look at the man in front of her. The thought that Gigi would ever, could ever do something like this, wish her away, was ridiculous; this was the woman who brought her home from the hospital after everything had happened, this was the woman who had nearly punched out a nurse who'd claimed Alice's first round of night terrors was just a child looking for attention, this was the woman who had sat with her almost every night these last few to make sure she got a to sleep. Why would a woman who'd be willing to do all that, simply give her away? It didn't make any sense, it just couldn't be true.

Just off to her left something moved in the corner of her eye. Turning she watched as a small whirlwind of glitter began to form, growing ever larger, finally ending in a crescendo topped with a flash and an explosion of glitter. In its wake stood an older woman, looking as though she'd just been roused from bed.

"Jareth, Derrick, is it really necessary to rouse me at this late hour to mediate one of your …" Her voice trailed off as she spied Alice on the floor just a few feet away from her.

"This is Nanny, she'll be taking care of you." Turning to the older woman, Jareth continued. "Nanny this is Alice, would you please take her upstairs, her room is waiting."

"You're surely not going to put her with the rest of the children are you?"

"Nanny, her room is waiting for her upstairs. You'll find it rather easily. Please take her there." With that Jareth said no more. Nanny's eyes found Derricks, and the gaze he returned any of the questions she may have had. Turning to the girl, she gave her a quick once over, well, at least Jareth was consistent, she was definitely pretty.

"Come with me child, I'll take you to your room."

"I can't. I-" but she didn't finish. Nanny, understanding almost instantly, stooped down, circling her arm around the girl and under her right arm, straightening bringing them both to their feet. Nanny waited as Alice teetered momentarily attempting to no lean on the older woman, trying her best to steady herself on her own.

"Come now with all that, don't bother worrying about leaning on me, come now, come on." Alice stared down at the woman next to her, the only thought going through her mind was that she was going to crush this woman, the first misstep, they'd both tip over and she'd crush this poor woman. But she was stronger than she seemed, as she held her sturdy, her arm firmly wrapped around Alice's waist.

"Good night your Majesty, Derrick." How Nanny managed a curtsy while still holding Alice was beyond her, but as the woman turned to lead them both out of the throne room, Alice cast a glance over her shoulder towards the Goblin King. His words about Gigi still fresh in her mind. He was wrong, but it wouldn't matter, if this, if all of this was real, she wouldn't be here long enough for him to realize it.

* * *

><p>A long golden, stone spiral stairway, a window so high up a wall that it could reveal just a peek at the deep night sky and nothing else, sconces full of flames lighting the way, a large heavy wooden door, a latch turning, a glorious room. All of these things Alice noticed. All of these things were cataloged within the deep recesses of her mind, but these details didn't matter so much. What mattered were the images her mind was currently cataloging, labeling and scanning to memory, recording for later, for when she'd need them, all the while Nanny was scurrying around preparing the room for use, pulling back covers on the rather large bed before hunting for more suitable night clothes for Alice to wear.<br>Unaware of Nanny's musings and polite small talk, Alice let a question bubble up out of her mouth.  
>"So that is the Labyrinth?" Nanny ceased in her scrounging around to turn towards the young human girl that her king had become so infatuated with. The girl called Alice stood peering out of the bedroom window, in asking her question her eyes never left the scene beyond.<br>"Yes, that would be the Labyrinth."  
>"Does all of it come up this close to the castle?" Alice queried as her eyes continued to document the various things before her.<br>"Not in all places. Some of the gardens blend into it, some paths don't come anywhere near here, another still, the ones the runners usually take leads right up to the gates. It's a right proper maze, as it should be."  
>"Where do the runners start?"<br>"Oh all in the same place. There's a hill just outside at the beginning of the Labyrinth, marked with a dead tree, just on the edge, that's where they all begin."  
>"Marked with a dead tree huh?" Alice pondered a little louder than she had intended. At this Nanny stopped completely and turned to the girl who had yet to move from the window.<br>"Oh no. No. I know what you're thinking and never was an idea more foolish."  
>"I'm not thinking-" but Nanny stopped her before she could even form the lie. Taking her hand Nanny turned Alice away from the window, breaking her purposeful gaze and locked eyes with her.<br>"I know what you're thinking, don't deny it, you know I'm right, and you can just go ahead and get that crazy idea out of your head and just forget about it. Attempting to find your way out of the Labyrinth is foolhardy if you don't know the way, and just plain foolish to attempt so at night. That place is riddled with dangers that you can't even begin to image. The runners? They're marked so that the other, more dangerous creatures will leave them be, on top of that they're on a set track, a path that will, if they were to succeed, send them straight to the castle, eventually. You running out there with no knowledge of where you're headed or what you're in for, is just going to end up getting you hurt, lost, or worse killed. There are parts of the Labyrinth that no runner is meant to see, that no being, especially human, should go into alone.  
>"I can only imagine that you're not happy to be here, most aren't, but your runner didn't make it darling, and unfortunately that means you have to stay. I know it will be hard to adjust to this but it's just something that must be done now, it can't be helped. Now come here, away from the window, and ready for bed." Nanny pulled out a lovely off white night dress out of a drawer of an armoire and handed it to Alice.<br>"Here now, why don't you put this on, it may be a little warmer than what you're wearing."  
>"No, no thank you," Alice pulled at the hem of the large shirt she wore, giving a brief peek of the shorts underneath as she bunched the shirt in her hands. "I'd rather keeps these if that's alright."<br>"No bother, I understand. You can keep those as long as you like, I'll make sure to tell the others not to take them off after your bath in the morning." Alice silently nodded, climbing into bed to appease Nanny. The older woman pulled the covers up nice and snug, and with a wave of her hand the lights were snuffed and she quietly exited the room.  
>As Alice lay there she held her breath waiting to see, hoping she wouldn't hear the sound of a bolt sealing her within the room, luckily it never came. However she continued to lay there, huddled under the covers, waiting, waiting for the sound within the hall, outside of her window, all of those sounds to calm down, to quiet down, to give her some sort of signal that it was safe to go through with her plan. But the longer she stayed there the more sound came from beyond the window; as if every creature knew she was waiting for her chance and decided that they needed to come out at this time and stall her plans. She knew she couldn't wait for long though, eventually, she knew she'd get hungry, and knowing the stories she'd been told, some from her parents, some from Gigi, some from books, eating food from this world would immediately seal off any chances that she had of getting home. Because that's where she was headed; despite Nanny's warnings, though kind they had been, she didn't belong here and she wasn't just going to lay down and take it, settle in and forget about her life back home, her friends, her family, no that wasn't an option.<br>Quietly she shoved back the covers and crept from the bed, stopping by the window to gorge her mind one more time on the expanse of the Labyrinth and the path she'd chosen to take. Below her window she could make out an entrance to the massive maze, it looked like it might have lead off into a garden space, but if she took the right turns then it'd take her exactly where she needed to go. The rest would be memory and a little bit of luck.  
>Leaning out of the window slightly Alice peered down to the ground below. She was too high up to manage scurrying out the window and down, she guessed maybe she was at a minimum three stories up, farther up than the roof of the Gigi and Conall's house which she had, much to Gigi's shagrin, had managed multiple times just fine. No, she'd want to be a little bit closer to the ground first before she even considered climbing out of a window, but as she remembered back down the way Nanny had brought her, no such lower windows came to mind.<p>

Somewhere a bell tolled, bringing Alice out of her daze. She didn't have time for this, she needed to get moving, now. Taking a deep breath she made her way in the dark over to the bedroom door, and with a grounded push managed to crack the door enough to take in the hallway. Venturing her head farther out of the door, she took in her surroundings and found nothing. The hall was deserted. Perfect.

Closing the door silently behind her, Alice started on her way. Careful to walk on the balls of her feet, sure to make as little noise as possible, she made her way back down the hall and crept down the spiraling stone stairs, she came to a fork and made her way left, remembering the way the halls curved and swayed from where Nanny had brought her through. She came to a landing and stood, perplexed. The hall diverged again, but this time held a problem. Going to the right would lead her back to the throne room, a place where she was certain she'd be found out instantly; going to the left would lead her who knows where and the last thing she wanted to do was be discovered wandering throughout the castle, completely and hopelessly lost. Voices and shadows caught her attention, they made her decision for her. The left it was. She slipped around the bend just as the shadows began to shift in size as they grew closer; she didn't wait to see them however, though she did wonder what a real goblin looked like, she couldn't risk everything, just to have a look-see.

She found herself at another set of stairs, a short one, that veered off again to the left and narrowed. As she reached the point of considering turning back, Alice came upon a saving grace, a window, large enough, but most importantly close enough to see out of with ease. Leaning out she found herself directly across from the entrance to the Labyrinth that she had chosen from the bedroom window; it was a straight shot, albeit her current position was still a story up, but it could have been worse. Voices once again interrupted her thoughts; panic began to set in as the voices came from both ends of the halls, cutting off any chance of escape, well almost any chance. Hurriedly Alice glanced back out of the window, before slinging herself over the windowsill, legs dangling willy nilly for a moment before catching hold of the wall in front of her. Working her toes into the cracks of the stone bricks, Alice latched on for dear life hoping that her fingers would hold, wishing that she had taken an extra second or two to consider how exactly she was going to hang off the side of building before she had actually done it.

_Yes well, you know Alice, better planning next time, because there are so many castles at home that you could have practiced on! _She snipped at the absurdity of the situation in her mind as she heard the voices converge above her. Alice didn't dare look up, or even try for that matter, she was convinced that the slightest move would upset her balance and would send her crashing to the ground below in a heap, then where would she be? _Well stuck here for one._ Shaking her head to be rid of her own sarcastic mental remarks, Alice continued to listen to the voices above her, none sounded alarmed or hurried, it seemed that her disappearance was still unnoticed, or at least it hadn't spread far enough to cause too much trouble.

A strange sensation called Alice's attention back from the window above her to her foot on the wall. A soft tickling feeling was creeping up her leg; squinting into the dark shadow she tried to make out what it was, the moment she did, she wished she hadn't. Crawling out of the crack, across her foot and now slowly marching its way up her leg, was the largest roach Alice was sure she'd ever seen. There were few things she couldn't stand in the world, roaches being one of them, and this one appeared to be the mother of all roaches, and it was on her leg and steadily advancing. Attempting to keep calm, she let her right leg drop from the wall and gave a slight shake, hoping to dislodge the disgusting thing, all this served to do was convince it to keep moving up her leg, just faster. Alice wiggled her torso hoping that might send it back the other direction, maybe if she got it on her leg again she could smash it on the wall. But it just kept coming. Large puffs of air weren't helping either, her arms were straining under all of the extra wiggling, the urge to scream was kicking at the back of her throat, the only way this could get any worse...

Alice wasn't sure when she'd closed her eyes, maybe it was when she'd felt that first foot on her neck, it seemed like she'd been hanging under the window for a millenia, time seemed to drag on until she felt the first faint feather light touches on her cheek. She wasn't sure when she'd started holding her breath either, but her lungs were burning, set to burst any minute given the chance. Risking a glance with her left eye, Alice slowly peaked, only to be greeted by two long antennae tapping ever so lightly on her cheek.

She didn't remember falling.

She was under the window one second, on the ground the next; on the ground rubbing her face with her hands like a mad woman, rubbing them in the dirt only to bring them back to her face and scrub her skin with the grit of the earth beneath her. It had been on her face! It had touched her face! Her leg had been bearable, her stomach terrorizing, her neck torture, but her face, no, no no no no!

Alice froze, remembering where she was and what she was doing. Looking back up at the window it seemed no one had noticed her graceless decent to the ground; looking around it appeared no one had noticed her mad dance on the ground, scouring her face with grit and sand to rid her skin of the sensation of those tiny disgusting feet. All was still, no sirens, no shouting, no nothing. Taking one last hesitant glance at her surroundings, Alice bolted for the opening, legs pumping heart racing, running, one thing on her mind. Home. If she could make it to that hill, that hill marked with the dead tree, she could make it home.

Unseen eyes noticed her approach, filled with curiosity, they watched this stranger filled with ambition enter the great maze. This girl was curious, curious indeed.

* * *

><p>The first turns and bends seemed to have passed in mere seconds, but now as Alice found herself deeper into the maze she found it harder to recall the vast number of turns that had faded into the dark that she had studied from the window. She stopped for only a moment, to let her mind riffle through the catalogued information before darting off again.<p>

Oh how it felt to run, she hadn't run in a long time. Hadn't needed to. The rides with Willis had been enough to ease her mind, put her at rest, and give her the freedom that she had been looking for, that she had needed from the mental pressures around her. The steady pounding of the balls of her feet against the earth beneath them, the pendant Willis gave her, still hanging around her neck setting the rhythm as it thumped steadily against her chest, arms pumping, breath sweeping in and out; if it weren't for the fact that she were running for her life, she'd be enjoying this so much right now. The feeling of almost flying, of near weightlessness as she jumped over and darted around things in her path, if it weren't for the reason why she was running, she'd be savoring the feeling a little more than she was right now.

Alice slowed as she entered another clearing in the maze, letting her mind once again catch up to the rest of her, when something caught her eye. She wasn't sure what it was, a flicker of light, a soft glow, dancing just at the corner of her eye. Turning she saw it hovering maybe two, three feet away, and it was slowly being joined by others. Alice found herself advancing towards the small lights, she wasn't sure why, but she just wanted to be closer, they had to be something, lights didn't just float around in the air like that. Did they?

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A voice shot through the haze in her mind bringing her back to the here and now. Pivoting, Alice found before her a small girl, smiling up at her, but there was something about this little girl's eyes though.

"Who are you?"

"I wouldn't mess with them if I were you." She repeated pointing over Alice's shoulder, towards the lights. "Nasty little things, on a good day they'll just lead off the wrong way, on a bad day, well let's just say it's not pretty. Of course, that all depends on if you're a runner or not." Alice felt the hairs stand up on the back of her neck as the girl cut her sly eyes towards her.

"And you and I both know you're not."

"You're going to tell aren't you?" Alice managed after swallowing hard. It couldn't be that all of her hard work would be for nothing? This would be where she'd be turned back, this is where she'd be stopped and made to return, to be trapped here forever?

The girl said nothing, simply gave a sly smile, before turning on her heel and taking off.

"Wait! Come back!" Maybe later if she looked back on it she might have thought, like most, that running off after a strange child was a foolhardy idea, but there was just something about this sly little thing, that had stopped for but a moment to keep her from who knows what.

"Wait! I just want to know- Wait!" No matter how much Alice called after her the girl didn't cease. _How is she running so fast?_ A question that kept coming up as the girl managed to stay just out of reach of Alice. Every turn, once Alice rounded a corner she would just barely catch a glimpse of the girl heading around another, giggling all the while. She couldn't have been more than seven or eight, at least that's what she looked, how were her little legs keeping her so far out of reach? For a moment the thought occurred to her that the girl maybe leading her off somewhere, like the lights had tried to, maybe somewhere worse, but with every twist and turn she found herself trying harder and harder still to keep pace with the elusive little tyke.

Finally Alice's lungs could bear it no more, they burned and ached, awaking the sensation of fatigue in the rest of her limbs; she had to stop, if for just a moment, she needed to stop and catch her breath. Hands on her knees, she sucked in air trying to calm herself, her whole body was shaking, a low growl cut out from her stomach, when was it when she'd last eaten? 8? 9? What time was it now? Standing up, her hands still shaking, Alice took in her surroundings and found herself on what appeared, to be the edge of a wooded space of the Labyrinth, massive trees standing like silent sentries, impending, looming over her and everything else around her. To her back, the stoney moss covered walls that she had just run through, farther back still, the castle beyond the Goblin city, so distant now, almost like a bad dream.

"You're not too far now." The voice came again, and Alice turned, to find the girl standing beside her, watching her with those peculiar eyes. The girl shifted from foot to foot, not with any urgency but with that childlike inability to hold absolutely still.

"Straight on through the woods, stick to the path, it will lead you to the hill that will take you home."

"Thank you... Why did you-"

"You should get going." The girl stated, turning her odd gaze to the goblin castle. Her stare seemed more distant though, as if she were looking at the goings on within the castle walls as opposed to just the castle itself.

"He's just discovered you missing, and he's not too pleased." She added with a mischievous grin. Alice began to question how this child could possibly know, when a great rumbling shook the whole Labyrinth, upsetting the very ground where she stood as well as her confidence, to its very core. Birds awoken from their nighttime beds scattered into the sky, and she could hear the light scurrying of smaller animals as they dove for safety. Alice didn't wait to see if the girl was alright, she didn't wait for the ground to stop, her adrenaline spiked and she turned, bolting into the forest daring not to cast a glance back, fear growing at what might appear there.

The child watched her as she went, disappearing amongst the dark wood, a grin plastered on her face all the while.

"Well well well, this is going to be fun indeed."

* * *

><p>Run.<p>

It was all she could think to do. Feet pounding, heart racing, run. It wasn't the same as before, no, now panic had overwhelmed her very being, panic laced with fear. And it was throwing her off. Her arms swatted madly at low branches that took swipes at her face and grabbed at her hair. Her feet seemed to find every hole or upturned root, she'd fallen twice already and had lost count of how many times she'd stumbled in her frantic attempt to escape the sense of impending dread bearing down on her. She didn't dare stop. Catching her breath wasn't important anymore, she could breath when she'd found the tree, when she was home.

By something that could only be considered great luck, Alice skidded to an abrupt halt just before her mad run sent her over a perilously steep decline. The sound of her heartbeat was crashing in her ears, as small rocks loosened by her bare feet tumbled down the hillside. But her frantic gaze found what she was looking for; not far off in the distance over a few remaining walls, some last twists and turns, sat a cluster of sweeping hills, one in particular caped with a large dead tree. Alice had never thought in her life that the sight of some dead tree would have threatened to bring tears to her eyes. But low and behold she could feel them welling up as she stood there.

Another monstrous quake shook the ground, this time far more violent than the one before. Her feet flew out from under her, sending her end over tea kettle down the side of the vast hill. Scraped and bruised at the bottom, Alice struggled to her feet, attempting to make heads and tails of everything, yet another terrifying tremor set her scrambling for the nearest walls. Forgetting, ignoring everything; her bruises, her cuts, the sharp pain shooting through her right leg every time her foot hit the ground and the slight limp that it gave her. All that was on her mind was the tree. As the ground below her feet changed from the dirt of the forest floor to the hard paved stone road, as trees melted into stone walls, all that was going through her mind was the tree.

_If I can get to the tree I can go home. If I can just get to the tree I can go home._

The phrase became a sort of crazed mantra that repeated in her mind as she ran, desperate for her end goal.

_Get through the maze, get to the tree, and I can go home._

_Get through the maze, get to the tree, and I can go home._

_Get through the maze, get to the tree, and I can go home._

The last turn melted away and she came to a massive gate. Under any other circumstances she never would have thought she could possibly move those massive doors, but at the moment she didn't care. Throwing her whole being behind the push, she grounded her feet and forced her sore and tired muscles into action, pressing with all of her might against the gates, her mind still holding tight to one thought that kept her going.

_Through the gate, to the tree, and I can go home._

_Through the gate, to the tree, and I can go home._

_Through the gate, to the tree, and I can go home._

The gate finally gave way, creaking in protest as it opened, flooding the space behind her with rays of light. She wasn't sure when the sun had come up, she had been so determined, was still so determined, that she hadn't realized just how long she'd been running. None of that mattered however, when scanning the horizon had brought into sight, at her right, the dead tree not too far away.

Alice made a run for it. There was nothing but open ground between her and the salvation that lone tree was bound to give. Nothing to hide behind, nothing to duck under, nothing to hide her from view; she couldn't be more exposed, but she didn't care. The dread still snapping at her heals, that horrible feeling of what might be over her shoulder, these were the things that egged her on, these things and one more.

_If I can make it to the tree I can go home._

_If I can just touch the tree I can go home._

_I just need to touch the tree._

The earnestness of her thoughts helped her close the gap, the sheer fact that she had made it, that in just mere moments she would be back home, back in her room, back with her friends, her family, everyone. That in just an instant all that had happened tonight after the dance, would just fade away into nothing, like a bad dream. Her hand was outstretched, her fingers yearning for the wonderfully rough sensation of bark pressed against them, the tree so achingly close; maybe it was a trick of the mind, she could almost see what appeared to be a swirling shape begin to open as her outstretched fingers came closer, a blurry image of home within. One thought and one thought only was running through her mind, _If I can just touch the tree, if I can just touch the tree, if I can just touch the tree._

A sharp pain shot through her left wrist. _Why?_ She was so close! She could see the individual nuances of the bark on the tree, the image in the swirl appeared to be sharpening in clarity. _No. Why?_ She'd stopped moving, abruptly, she knew this and yet, and yet she couldn't bare to turn around. Turning around would make things real and she couldn't bare that yet. She couldn't bare to let the last breaths of hope die.

"Alice." The sound of her name sent a bolt up her spine, and the last vestiges of adrenaline fired through her being.

Turning, she came eye to eye with the Goblin King. His icy gaze, dark, dangerous, but most importantly warning. He held her wrist as if it had been simply nothing to capture it, much like a cat having snatched up some small unfortunate creature. She could almost hear his voice in her mind, telling her to give up this farce; but that wasn't going to happen. She wasn't ready to let go yet.

"Let go." it came softly first, and when the grip around her wrist threatened to tighten even more, it exploded out of her, "Let go!"

Putting all of her weight into it, Alice pulled back, in an attempt to free her hand, but the vice grip held fast, clamping down even harder. Gasping at the pain, Alice tried to free her hand again to no avail. Without any warning however, the grip vanished, her hand was free; with not a moments hesitation she turned grasping for the tree, when she felt something collide with her torso, just below her ribs. Looking down, stone bricks came into view, quickly other ones began appearing at random intervals all around her.

_No. _ Alice made one last desperate lunge for the tree, but her fingers were barely able to even brush it.

"No!" The swirling portal before her blinked shut, disappearing with a sound much like a sigh. The tree sped away from her as more of the stone bricks descended all around and beneath her. The massive trees of the forest swept by below her feet, becoming a green blur, next came the vast twists and turns of the stone walls zipping off into the distance, all the way back to the entrance she had run through after she'd fallen from the window, and then up. Up, up, up she went, the land dropped below her at a terrifying speed, like traumatizing elevator ride, until everything came to an abrupt stop. She could have turned around if she had cared enough to, but she already knew what would be there, and she wasn't ready for that.

It had all been for nothing.

All of that hope, all of that effort, it had all been for nothing. She'd been so close, so close to home, to Gigi, and it had all been snatched away, in the blink of an eye, it was all gone, taken, and there was nothing she could do about it. Fat tears began rolling down the sides of her face. A choked sob wracked its way out of her chest, as her body shook, as the feeling of defeat began to overwhelm her. She'd been so close. So, so close. Her legs couldn't hold her weight any longer, all of the strain they'd been through that night, they simply collapsed underneath her now. Her tired body sagged to the floor, she couldn't bare to look out the window any longer, the view only served to mock her. The sobs came harder, the taste of salt more prevalent as some of the tears that journeyed down her face found their way into her mouth. The scrapes and bruises, the tired limbs, the cuts, the hoping and wishing, it had all been for nothing.

Jareth watched, silently from the center of the room. He watched as she sagged to the floor and her shoulders shook with the violence of her sobbing. And his face showed nothing and he felt nothing. He felt no compassion, no sympathy, nothing, towards the girl before him. His temper had exploded when he'd discovered she'd managed to sneak out of the castle, and worse still when he'd realized just how deep into the Labyrinth she had gone before being detected. He looked on, hearing her cries, his mind elsewhere, thoughts tangled up in a certain one's meddlings he'd have to contend with.

"You." His presence had finally been noticed, the grey eyes on the other side of the room burning with an anger that threatened to break loose any moment.

"You. You!" her rapid advance was easily halted, a wrist in each of his hands, keeping her clawing fingers at a safe distance.

"I think we've established that I am the subject matter here. Care to continue your sentence?"

That was it.

The final straw had broken; tonight she'd endured so much, and his mocking tone was the last thing that she'd needed. Pure rage emanated from her very being, and the blaze in her eyes erupted into a roaring inferno as she fought harder to actually grab hold of the being that stood before her.

"You bastard! I hate you!" Alice finally spat, glaring at the Goblin King. "What did I ever do to you? I want to go home, send me home! Do it! NOW!"

"A wish is a wish. Whether you like it or not, that's what it is." Jareth replied, his words cold and sharp, as he pushed her back as if she weighed nothing, sending Alice stumbling back into the corner of the bed.

"Wish!? I didn't make any wish! I never asked for this, for any of it! Send me back!"

"It doesn't matter, you godmother did, what's said is said-"

"Stop saying that!"

"What would you prefer me say then, hmm?" his mocking tone was back as he advanced, stalking ever closer, his cold eyes locked on hers, until only a breath separated them.

"Would you prefer something sweeter, perhaps? You pricked your finger and fell asleep?"

"Stop it."

"That this is all just a dream and you'll wake up soon?"

"Stop it!"

"Find yourself all tucked in to your bed, 'safe and sound', with your adoring godmother waiting for you?"

"STOP IT!" it felt as if her scream shook the entire room, but all this did was push Jareth's temper close to the tipping point once more this night. His eyes narrowed as they bored into hers.

"I have warned you once about your tone this night, I have been gracious-"

"Gracious? Gracious?!" She laughed, her tone just as mocking as his. "You call this gracious? You brought me here against my will and then you go and blame it on someone else! You're nothing but a liar!" At that moment Alice felt a hand clamp around her upper arm; the Goblin King pulled her closer, to where there was no space left at all. Though her mind was racing in a panic at what could happen next, at this distance she couldn't help but notice, his eyes didn't match.

"You want to behave as though you're a prisoner?" the words slipped over his lips in such a manner that they sent a chill up and down Alice's spine, rippling her skin with goosebumps.

"Then a prisoner you'll be." Jareth shoved her away from him once more. Alice tumbled backwards, expecting to once again collide with the bed, only to feel herself continuing to fall until her back hit the wall. Glancing about the room, she watched as each piece of furniture disappeared into a sweeping cloud of smoke, as a strange wind filled the room. Gone were the dressers, wardrobe, vanity, and bed; swept up were the curtains and rugs, until nothing was left. The window shrank into just a fraction of it's size and moved higher up the wall, as the room itself began to shrink. Then just as abruptly as everything started, it ceased, the only sound to be heard was Alice's unsteady breathing.

Finally her eyes found Jareth. He stood, just as menacingly as he'd been a moment before by the door, the air about him dark and terrible.

"Welcome to your new accommodations. Sleep well, Alice." Was all he said before the door flung open, and in one fluid motion, he took one step back over the threshold, the door slamming shut before starting to shrink.

"No!" Alice charged forward but by the time she reached the door it was gone completely. Surrounded by bare stone walls, and barely any light, Alice dragged her tired body to the farthest corner from the door; sliding down the wall, Alice pulled her legs up to her chest and resting her head on her knees. Fresh tears began to well up, this time falling silently as the sun crawled higher into the sky over the Goblin Kingdom.

* * *

><p><em>And that is it ladies and gentlemen, the end of the most recent chapter! INTENSE! Thank you again to all of those who have been reading, commenting, favoriting, and following! I really appreciate it! Thanks again everyone!<em>


	15. Chosen Curiosity

_My goodness it has been quite a few many moons. I could go into all of the reasons why progress has been hung up but let's just hop into where we left off and we'll worry about that later on. ^_^_

* * *

><p>Fairer Tales 15: Chosen Curiosity<p>

Jareth stood in the heart of the Labyrinth, waiting.

Nagging thoughts were swirling about in his mind, their epicenter Alice. And as he stood amidst the deepest, most hidden part of the Labyrinth, he could not help but think that the being he now waited for had some part in the night's events. As the wind through the Labyrinth shifted, he knew the one he was waiting for had arrived long before ever laying eyes on her. A mischievous giggle and a feather light touch of a hand slipping into his announced her full presence.

"Hello Friend." The being standing next to him had assumed the guise of a small girl, but her shifty eyes and the electric aura emanating from her gave true being away. A resident of the Labyrinth, possibly as old as the very maze itself.

"We have some things we need to discuss."

"Oh is that so?" she moved from his side and stood in front of him. "What sort of things? … Oh you mean her! The runner who wasn't one... the one named Alice? What about her?"

"I think you know." The being stood before him, waiting, watching him, searching his face for something.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." she stated, rather dismissively a moment later, waving off the idea as she turned to walk away.

"Little one, you helped her through my Labyrinth. And be smart in how you answer next, you forget who you're talking to."

"Excuse me? '_Little one_'? '_Your Labyrinth_'?" the creature before him turned, her eyes starting to shine, the playful note in her voice still present. "I think it is you who has forgotten who they are talking to." Before his eyes the being began to change in shape and size, morphing from a small child into a full grown woman, her short goblin clothes shifting into a longer, more flattering frock of deep greens and burnt orange, with trimmings of copper, all beautifully complimenting her dark skin.

"Well now that I have your attention-"

"Oh you had my attention my dearest Goblin King, but you needn't have chosen your words so." She stepped closer, her whole face still emanating with that childlike mischief. "I thought I taught you to how to 'choose your right words'."

"And so I did." Jareth chuckled. "My words got your attention did it not?"

"You needn't have mocked me, 'little one', hmph, honestly. There is nothing about me sir, that could be considered 'little'." she stated, taking a step back, sweeping her hand dramatically around herself. "And secondly, how daring are you that you come into _my _Labyrinth, and claim it yours. How cocky you've gotten my Goblin King, since I chose you."

"Some would call it confidence my lady." Jareth grinned, leisurely closing the distance between the two of them, enjoying the banter between them, an old sort of tradition that both found amusing, for it was how they always were when speaking with one another; serious but not, all in the same turn, much different from those whom he had to deal with on a daily basis. "Some actually find it very appealing."

The woman threw her head back, laughter bubbling up over her lips and ringing throughout the walls of the Labyrinth.

"Some would I suppose," she smiled, regaining her composure. "I am not one of those 'some'. However, your 'appeal' is not what we were discussing, I believe the topic digressed from the girl, from Alice."

"Yes, and your aiding her through my-"

"Uh-uh-uh, _mine_..."

"_Your_ Labyrinth." he finished rolling his eyes.

"There we are. You're right, I did help her, well in a way, but not nearly as much as you think. I will admit to that. You know I find her terribly interesting, there was always something about her but I wasn't sure exactly what..."

"What are you saying?"

"Oh what? You think you're the only one who likes to view the Above from time to time? I've been watching Alice long before you were. How else do you suppose she managed to get her hands on the book?" The being watched as Jareth's eyes narrowed.

"You gave her the book." The Goblin King stated flatty.

"Not personally, no." She giggled.

"You used my goblins."

"Excuse me. _My_ Labyrinth, _my_ goblins, my dear Goblin King."

"You sent goblins into the Above, to give a mortal a book, simply because... what? Because you liked her, because you could?"

"Oh are we jealous?" she smiled, locking eyes with him. "Don't worry there's only room in my heart for one ruler of my Labyrinth. Don't fret, I have no intention of replacing you, I simply watched her out of a strange combination of curiosity and intrigue, same as you, the only difference is I had no plans of actually making her come here, let alone keep her here, or even marking her as my own." She smiled, batting her mismatched eyes up at his, as she slowly turned her back to him. "That was an honor I reserved only for you.

"Hence why when she had made her way into the Labyrinth, I was bound to aid her, after all the Lady of the Labyrinth is bound by her own rules. Every runner is to be given a fair chance to complete the puzzle, fair enough anyway; on top everything else she wasn't even on the normal path either, honestly you should be thanking me, I kept her out of some serious trouble."

"You also almost let her escape."

"Oh no no no, not me my king. Remember I told you that wasn't my doing. That she managed all on her own."

"Are you trying to suggest that a mortal girl has the knowledge, let alone the power to open a portal between the Above and the Underground?"

"Oh come on now Jareth, firstly, if she were just some 'mortal' girl you wouldn't have had any interest in her." the Lady of the Labyrinth sighed, seemingly exasperated with the slower tempo of the conversation. "Secondly, when you left the Underground that night, the first time you went Above and eventually came across her; there was a pull that called you Above wasn't there?"

"And I suppose that was your doing as well?"

"Jareth," the being before him became very still, the Labyrinth itself seemed to quiet with her; the movement of walls slowed to a bare crawl while some ceased altogether, animals and other creatures through out seemed to settle, communicating with one another in hushed tones and whispers. Her mischievous tone had dissipated, her face shifting to a mask of seriousness to convey her next words in the best light.

"As I said, I gave her the book. I took one goblin, sent him on a task, a simple task, to place the book where a certain girl would find it. I sent one. As I watched her, more were called, more appeared Above. I watched as she swung lazily in the park musing to herself, sat anxious in her class thinking of more, wanting more, blaming the thought that there may be more on her imagination, and I found myself feeling anxious, unsettled. And it not only affected me, it affected the goblins, the other creatures, and even managed to grab your attention.

"You felt the call, you felt it, just like you feel a summons coming. Something drew you in long before you ever set eyes on her. With all of this, you truly think that this was some sort of grand orchestration by me? I can tell you with all honesty that I had nothing to do with her almost escaping. She opened the gates on her own, made it to the tree on her own, and opened the portal on her own; just as she called those goblins, just as she called you. There's a quiet power lying within that girl, I noticed it while watching her Above, and as she traveled through the Labyrinth and now that she's here, others are bound to notice as well, keeping her here could mean far more trouble than you ever had anticipated, my dear Goblin King."

"And tell me, my fair Lady of the Labyrinth, what would you have me do? Your rules, the very rules you are bound to, now bind her here, they being, in their own way, far more damning than anything I could 'claim' to have over her. You could have given her a way out sooner, you didn't have to let her reach the tree, but you did for the same reason you gave her the book, you were curious, and curiosity is a dangerous thing my dear friend."

"Keeping her here will not be easy, I'm sure the fact that she's gone missing will be quickly noticed."

"She was wished away." The Goblin King's eyes darkened as they left the face of the woman before him. "The magic will have done it's job, no one Above will remember her. She'll just be another forgotten wished away, like all the others."

"You're so certain aren't you." The Lady of the Labyrinth muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose. "And what if you're wrong?"

"And why are you so anxious?" Jareth's suspicion peaked.

"Why am I anxious- You know how much energy and power it takes to transport a person to the Above, even though a portal is the easiest method of getting between here and there, it still takes a considerable amount of energy especially for one who's not even supposed to have that ability in the first place."

"What aren't you telling me?"

"Wha- I've told you everything!" the woman before him stood baffled at his accusation. "Why would you think-"

"Think that you had kept something else from me? Is that what you were going to say? You've been so forthcoming up until now I can't imagine where my suspicions could be coming from." The being before Jareth crossed her arms over her chest, locking eyes with the Goblin King, there was no longer the air of mischief that had once been present.

"Everything you have asked I have told you." her tone was cool and flat, all jesting gone. "You're current tone is unnecessary. I'll simply 'assume' it is due to fatigue from how long this day has been for everyone involved, that you're acting this way. Before we take leave of each other, heed this; what is unknown can tend to be far more dangerous than originally anticipated. Alice is most likely completely unaware of the power that resides within her, she will eventually need guidance in how to utilize it as well as control it; as her flame grows, I can almost guarantee that others will notice and will come to take it, and whether you want to admit it or not, it seems she still has some very strong attachments to the Above, it's something others will exploit.

"So I suggest you try to mend your current standing with her, before it becomes a true problem, and something else that could be used against you."

"Oh yes I'm certain that Derrick will love playing that angle whenever possible," Jareth scoffed.

"So you honestly think you will have no trouble?" the Lady of the Labyrinth stood, arms crossed and head tilted slightly to the side.

"Derrick and Nanny are the only ones who know of her. I plan to keep it that way."

"For how long? How long do you honestly think that will last? The novelty of something new always has a way of getting out, and being known. Especially by those we'd rather not have take notice." she stated as she took a small step back as she began to fade from view.

"Calm yourself, there's nothing you need worry about." Jareth smirked, before turning on his heel to leave.

"Oh really? What about your brother?" Jareth halted, turning quickly back around, but she was gone, and all that remained was the uncomfortable stillness of everything around him.

"Shit."

* * *

><p>Silence. That's all there was, and Kern didn't like it.<p>

He had expected more from Queen Megara once she'd heard the latest news about the girl she hunted. The additional attack during the day had rendered nothing, and when the creatures had returned that night, their forces the largest they had been, they had kept to the woods having sensed a stronger power present. They had waited and watched, cowering, growling to one another what should be done as a large bolt of lightning cracked the sky and a torrent of magic spewed forth, opening the way to the Underground. The magical storm flooded into the passway taking with it the tremendous source of power, and upon further inspection, the girl. When the shadows had reunited with Kern and gave him the news, the reaction he had imagined, was not nearly as unsettling as this silence.

"My queen?" a simple sigh was the only response to Kern's testing of the waters.

"How would you like us to proceed-?"

"No. Kern, your shadows have done enough."

"I beg your pardon?" Queen Megara sat with her back to him, her fingers drumming on the armrest, her gaze switching between the balcony and mirror to her right.

"Calm yourself Kern," she sighed again. "I don't plan to return you and your kind to your vessel just yet, I still have use for you. The girl may have been wished away, but her simply being Underground will not make things easier, especially now that as a wished away she is under the protection of my son. This will take me some time, I need to think."

"I understand my queen." Kern gave a deep bow as he prepared to take his leave. "And what of the other girl in the Above? The Abigail girl? What would you wish done with her?"

"Keep her. Let your shadows continue their visits to her, she may still be an asset to us later, and if not, no one will lose sleep over a young mortal girl going mad. I hear they're highly vulnerable at that stage anyway." And with a simple wave of her hand she dismissed him, returning to her musings.

Stepping out of the queen's quarters and into the hallway Kern let out a breath of frustration. He wasn't worried, her usual threats were never anything that carried much weight to them, however the thought of being returned to the vial and being trapped within for who knows how long, was something that left a bad taste in his mouth. So distracted was he by thoughts of the vial that Kern did not notice the shift of movement to his left.

"Tell me Kern, what is it now that has my mother so vexed?" The shadowman felt a chill run down his spine, turning slowly he watched as Prince Diomed stepped into the light. The prince's gaze slowly turned to Kern, locking him in his sights; it had been a long time since Kern felt genuinely uncomfortable, genuinely worried, genuinely afraid. He was definitely his mother's son, similar fair skin, striking features, his hair was a fainter blonde, unlike his mother's golden tresses; his eyes, pale piercing blue glass marbles, were the most unsettling feature, next to his smile, which rarely ever graced his face.

"Truly nothing of concern your-"

"Come now Kern," Diomed advance, his face void of any true emotion. "We both know anything that has mother bothered enough to take her away from her reflection is something 'of concern'. Now what is it?"

"I'm not sure my queen would approve-" Kern began again, taking a slow step back, before being interrupted once again.

"What? Of you sharing?" In two feline like strides Diomed closed the gap between himself and the shadow man, taking a position that effectively cut off the others escape. "Everyone in this place knows something is up, what with her, shall we call them tantrums? You know I'll find out what it is anyway Kern, so why not just tell me now."

Kern did his best to hide his sense of unease as a wicked grin began to take root on Diomed's face. There it was, the start of it at least, that shark of a smile, one who had never met Diomed would never assume that such a simple gesture of a smile could be so filled with a sense of warning and dred.

"There… there is a mortal girl…"

"There's always a mortal girl."

"From the Above."

"Nothing new."

"Apparently the child of a past 'acquaintance'."

"A loose end, typical. Though I must say, not nearly worth all of this trouble."

"Your mother wants her."

"My mother wants lots of things."

"Yes well so does your brother." muttered Kern, having become tired of their banter already. He was relieved when it appeared Diomed had begun to feel the same and seemed ready to leave him be.

"Come again?" _Shit._

"About which part?"

"Kern." warning was etched in Diomed's eyes and tone.

"That's how I found her. Your mother sent me to watch your brother, I followed him Above one day, saw him watching her, showed her image to your mother and that's how this all started."

"Why was she having you follow him? Never mind, this girl, tell me of her Kern."

"There's nothing to tell."

"You're trying my patience shadowman."

"I'm not being difficult, it's true." Kern stated flatly, finally seeing an opening and moving away from the wall Diomed had had him trapped to. Placing some distance between them made him immediately more comfortable, and more willing to be blunt.

"The girl was wished away to your brother, getting to her is practically impossible now."

"Let me guess, the dealings of my mother in the Above is what lead to the wishing away."

"More or less."

"Of course." Kern watched as something started to form behind the blue eyes opposite of him; Diomed's features shifted once again as that familiar grin began to make it's way across his face, his eyes becoming dark with the thoughts that weaved their way into being in his mind.

"Tell me something Kern, how have you enjoyed being under my mother's employ all these years?"

"Sire?"

"It's struck me that until recently I haven't seen you around that much. What do you think will happen, when she finally has done away with Little Miss Loose End? I'll save you the energy of musing, she's going to trap all of you back in that tiny little bottle, hide you back in that drawer of hers and keep you hidden away until she makes another mistake. And seeing how much this one has blown up in her face, she might actually learn from it and take better precautions in the future, meaning what for you?" Diomed watched Kern with a simple knowing grin on his face as his fingers absentmindedly played with the seams on his gloves.

"I-"

"You and you're kind will be stuffed back in that jar and forgotten. Unless of course something were to change that."

"What are you suggesting?" Kern began apprehensively.

"A partnership of sorts. You see I want to know more about this whole 'situation' that mother has going on, and what better way to find out all of the tiny details than to have you share them with me?"

"Right." Kern scoffed, the idea that he would simply be a gossip hound for Diomed was almost as unflattering as the idea of being returned to the vial. "I'm sure your mother would be thrilled to have me sharing her business with you."

"You're missing the real point here, Kern. A venue to castle gossip is not what I require. Here, I shall spell it out for you simply. You continue going about whatever business mother has you doing, haunting someone's dreams, chasing down loose ends, following my darling baby brother, what have you. But you will come to me, report to me, and answer to me. Mother will give you her orders, but you will in truth be following mine, do you understand now?"

"Clearly. There never was confusion, but here's a hiccup in your plans; your mother will surely notice that something is afoot. I'm sure it won't take her long to notice meddling in her plans. I know she has her moments, but she's not nearly that short sighted."

"You just concern yourself with doing what you're told, let me worry about my mother Kern."

"And what if I were to refuse this 'grand' offer?" Kern sighed, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked down the hall; he wanted nothing more than this conversation with Prince Diomed to end. When he turned back he found Diomed had silently closed the gap between them as was now looming over him.

"You are not the only option Kern, just the most convenient at this point in time. Let's say some unfortunate calamity were to befall you, do you honestly think mother would trouble herself to find out what led to your demise? No she'd simply move on to the next of your kin in line, as will I. Eventually I'm certain that I will find one willing to accept my offer, until then those who refused would be taken care of. How many of them do you think it will take Kern before I find the one who says yes? How many will die after you because you were more worried about my mother and her petty threats over me and my more present ones? Could you really call your refusal "honorable" or at the best reasonable if it means the possible genocide of your our kin?"

"You wouldn't, your mother would be furious that you destroyed-"

"My mother can be placated Kern. You're stalling, what is your answer."

"I'll consider it." Kern gave after a short pause.

"Kern," Diomed's voice warned as his eyes once again grew dark and threatening. "You're either all in or no longer my problem, and I don't like to wait. So I ask one final time, what is your answer?"

"Yes."

"Good." Diomed's face brightened, a pleased smile found it's way onto his face, replacing the threatening expression that had been there meer seconds before. "You're free to go about my mother's business for now Kern, when I have need of you, you'll know."

Kern stood in the hall, having been dismissed, mostly in shock as he replayed the conversation over in his mind, wondering what he had just agreed to. Diomed grinned, chuckling to himself as he continued down the hallway, he'd been rather bored lately, and this news had definitely sparked a renewed interest in personal plans that had, up until recently, had been sluggish in their proceedings. He had to admit he was a little surprised that mother was once again up to her meddling ways, especially going so far as even consider going after a wished away just to tidy up her past endeavours. Speaking of the wished away, so his baby brother had a new toy, did he?

"Well then, I suppose it's about time I should pay my dearest baby brother a visit, now isn't it."

* * *

><p><em>And that is it for this chapter, I was hoping to make it a little longer, but decided to post what I had to help motivate the process. I apologize for the distance between posts, real world stuff is taking presedent but I love seeing your comments and favorites. They motivate me to keep working, keep writing and keep trying until completion. Another reason it's been taking so long is because I have honestly, been reworking how the story is going to play out. So far it has changed quite a bit from my original plan and keeps seeming to do so with newer "events" that each writing episode brings. I'm glad to see that all of your are still enjoying it all even with the waits.<em>

_Thanks again for the reviews, and favorites, I read and truly appreciate each one of them!_


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